Closing a Door

      Another year is coming to a close. Look back on all that has happened in it. It has been a mix of good and bad. Some of us get to look back and see the birth of children and grandchildren. Some the death of parents or grandparents. Some see both. Some had a year of health. Some a year of sickness. Some received promotions on their jobs. Some were laid off. Some got married. Some struggled in their marriage.

      As a congregation, we see the same dichotomy of good and bad. We rejoiced as some people were born into Christ, baptized in His name and freed from their sins. We mourned however when others fell away. We were excited when some moved into our community and happily joined our fellowship. We were discouraged when others moved away or simply went to other fellowships. Some of us grew tremendously. Some of us probably stagnated or even stalled out, struggling with our sins.

      The reality is, this is the way every year will go, whether we are speaking in general or looking very specifically. Each of us as individuals can look back over 2007 and see good things and bad things. We will even see that in our personal lives and walk with Jesus. I know I can look back over the year and see some great victories in my walk with God. I can also see some major defeats. I can see times when I overcame the tempter by the power of God’s grace. I can also see times when I turned my back on God’s grace and walked headlong into the tempter’s snares. How should we deal with that? The answer, I believe, can be found in Philippians 3:13-14.

Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

      Certainly, we should remember the lessons we learned from all that we experienced in 2007. However, we must not become overly distraught by our failures or overly enamored with our victories. The more we focus on those, the more we live in the past. What good does that do us? We can no longer do anything about the past. We can only control how we live today.

      After tomorrow, 2007 will be over. We will never live those moments again. We will never be able to change what happened. Instead of fretting about that, let’s close the door on 2007. Remember the good things, learn from the bad. But, let’s live the day we are in as best we can for the Lord. Let’s make today a day in which we press forward for the prize God has offered us. 2008 will only be great if we let 2007 stay in the past. Let’s close the 2007 door and open the 2008 door ready to glorify God.

Edwin L. Crozier