Berita NECF Newletters

Year-End Reverie

Description: By Goh Poh Gaik

It's year-end again. That time of year when a kaleidoscope of memories cascade through our minds as we move into the Christmas season and as we get ready to turn over the last page of 2001. What a year it has been! In many ways it has not been different from past years - the ups and downs, the pains and the joys, the victories and the failures. Yet it has been a year like no other. In some ways our world will never be the same again. That’s how a friend emailed me after the September 11 events in the States.

Events of catastrophic proportion may have taken place in our lives. A major decision. A major move. Laughter may have criss-crossed with tears. Whatever. You will probably be able to bear testimony to this: Whenever I have taken a painful event and brought it before the Lord in reflection, I have, nearly always, come away calmer in spirit and gladder than ever that I am His child. More pleasant events, given reverie attention, have brought glowing warmth on the inside and a deep gratitude for His love and provision.

Year-end reveries are beneficial year-end activities. It may be a couple of hours, a day or a weekend. Let’s try to work it into our schedules. During these times with the Lord, reading God’s Word is essential, as we all know. God speaks and He speaks clearly and powerfully through His Word. Christian material may also be helpful as they prod us on to review, reflect and rededicate our lives to the Lord. I have selected 10 points from A Closing Challenge to Men and Women taken from What’s the Difference? by John Piper to help us along.

My earnest prayer and challenge for you is …

Women

  1. That all of your life—in whatever calling—be devoted to the glory of God.
  2. That the promises of Christ be trusted so fully that peace and joy and strength fill your soul to overflowing.
  3. That this fullness of God overflow in daily acts of love so that people might see your good deeds and give glory to your Father in Heaven.
  4. That you be women of the Book, who love and study and obey the Bible in every area of its teaching; that meditation on Biblical truth be the source of hope and faith, that you continue to grow in understanding through the chapters of your life, never thinking that study and growth are only for others.
  5. That you be women of prayer, so that the Word of God will be opened to you, and so the power of faith and holiness will descend upon you; that your spiritual influence may increase at home and at church and in the world.
  6. That you be women who have a deep grasp of the sovereign grace of God which undergirds all these spiritual processes; and that you be deep thinkers about the doctrines of grace, and even deeper lovers of these things.
  7. That you be totally committed to ministry, whatever your specific calling; that you not fritter your time on soaps or women’s magazines or unimportant hobbies or shopping; that you redeem the time for Christ and His Kingdom.
  8. That, if you are single, you exploit your singleness to the full in devotion to God (the way Jesus and Paul and Mary Slessor and Amy Carmichael did) and not be paralyzed by the desire to be married.
  9. That, if you are married, you creatively and intelligently and sincerely support the leadership of your husband as deeply as obedience to Christ will allow; that you encourage him in his God-appointed role as head; that you influence him primarily through your fearless tranquility and holiness and prayer.
  10. That you develop a wartime mentality and lifestyle; that you never forget that life is short, that billions of peoples hang in the balance of heaven and hell every day, that the love of money is spiritual suicide, that the goals of upward mobility (nicer clothes, cars, houses, vacations, food, hobbies) are a poor and dangerous substitute for the goals of living for Christ with all your might and maximizing your joy in ministry to people’s needs.

Blessed reverie and have a meaningful Christmas.



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