Message from the manse

I would like to begin by wishing you a very happy New Year and God’s blessing for 2012. I have just received an email from work enquiring whether I am keeping to my New Year resolutions! I am personally not one for making New Year resolutions but do at this time of year like to reflect on the experiences of the previous year and contemplate the year ahead.

Most resolutions centre on personal goals such as losing weight, exercising more frequently, maintaining a healthier diet or finally putting a stop of bad habits. It is the time of year when we generally consider the past, examine the present and look to the future.

I have been reflecting on Paul’s letter to the Philippians and especially Chapter 3 where the apostle considers from his prison cell his past, present and future. As Paul looks to his past he reflects upon the significant standing that he had in his own Jewish community; a man who could call himself a “Hebrew of Hebrews”, one who had striven to keep the law and had even gone to the extent of actively persecuting the early Christian believers. Paul had much to commend him in his own society, being advanced in Judaism beyond many of his contemporaries, having an impressive education and also being a Pharisee.

What is striking as Paul considers his past is that he considers all of that which he had counted gain as loss and indeed “rubbish” in comparison to one thing; knowing his Saviour, Jesus Christ.

We live in an age, particularly in affluent Western societies, that place great value on very human time bound attributes such as social status, occupation, money and appearance. When we take time to take a step back and really consider these things and think from an eternal standpoint, it helps to put these things into perspective.

Paul’s primary aim as expressed in Philippians Ch 3 was to know Christ and be found in Him. I find that goal deeply challenging and wonder how many Christians have set a personal goal in 2012 of knowing Him more, being found in Him and even being willing to share in His sufferings so that we might live according to His precepts.

As we enter 2012 our nation and local community face challenges of a significant magnitude both economically and socially. There will be many who enter this New Year feeling despondent over what they have “lost” during 2011. The Bible tells us that God has put eternity in the hearts of man but we so often live as though earth will be our eternal home. The apostle Paul, even having considered all that he had “lost” for the sake of Christ was a man who knew, loved, worshiped and adored his Creator. That is why he could sit in a prison cell and write such a beautiful letter of encouragement to the church at Philippi.

Paul was a man who could have easily shared the statements from the Fellowship of the Unashamed that read, 

    “I no longer need pre-eminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits or popularity.

      I don’t have to be right, first, tops, recognised, praised, regarded or rewarded. I now live by faith,

      lean on His presence, walk with patience, live by prayer and labour by the Holy Spirit’s power.”

Can that be said of me or of you? As we enter this New Year, what is your deepest desire and longing? Paul already knew His Saviour but had a deep desire to know Him more above all things. Let us try and consider our current position before God and join with the apostle Paul in making it our goal this year to know Him and be found in Him, in His good and perfect will.

Every blessing,

Simon