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Hello St. John’s Family,
Tomorrow (January 17th) is officially National Ditch New Year’s Resolution Day. All those hopes and goals that we long to implement in our lives… well… it seems that 1/3 of us don’t make it through the first month! According to National Today, a website dedicated to “keeping track of fun holidays and special moments on the cultural calendar,” January 17 is the date that many choose to ditch those goals. Of course, we don’t want to confuse this day with January 10th – National Quitters Day – which falls on the second Friday of January each year. In 2019, Strava (a social network for athletes) found that approximately 80% of people who made New Year’s resolutions have thrown in the towel by the second week of January. So, depending on the source, this is the week that so many of us let go of those changes we hoped to make. A note for those looking for a slightly more uplifting day to celebrate: today is National Fig Newton Day (let’s get the party started!). Or if you’re looking for something with a bit more heat, it’s also International Hot and Spicy Food Day. But I digress.
Change, we know, is hard. Many of us try – we really do – yet struggle to implement lasting change, even when we recognize a change is needed. We’ll stick at it for a little while, yet attrition often takes its toll, and the changes we want to make fail to last. Why is it that… why is change so hard?
I sense a major reason that lasting change is often so challenging is because we see change as being completely up to us. Yes, we each need to choose to make the changes we desire. We need to invest ourselves into ensuring the patterns and routines we seek to change are altered; without our fully invested effort, change won’t happen. Yet the forces working against us are always greater than our capacity to withstand. In a world that exacts so many demands on us, our willpower alone will rarely be sufficient to implement lasting change… whether that’s a healthy lifestyle change, or a change in our relationship with God.
One of the most amazing things about God is God’s steadfast promise that we are not alone. Christ Jesus, prior to departing earth, promised to send an Advocate; a Helper. Someone to always be with us to guide, support, strengthen, and uplift. That person is the Holy Spirit, who I believe strengthens us when the forces and weight of the world against us are greater that we can bear. Intentionally attuning ourselves to God’s Holy Spirit helps us better understand who we are, and greatly assists us when we seek to make changes in any area of life.
Over the next 3 weeks, we’ll be exploring how the Holy Spirit works in our lives as we study 1 Corinthians 12 and 13. We’ll see how the Spirit cultivates things in us (often called gifts), what God’s intended desire is for our gifts, and receive an amazing and powerful picture of what it looks like when we live out our giftedness together. Along the way, I sense you may discover a bit more about who you are in God’s eyes, and be strengthened if there are changes you’d like to see in your life. This Sunday, we’ll explore 1 Corinthians 12:1-11… I hope you’ll check that out, and then join me in worship!
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Brad
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