It’s the time of year when we tend to look ahead and wonder what’s coming in the new year. It’s the time of year when we tend to look back and see what has happened in the past year. Both of these views are important, the latter necessary to make good on the former.

I should like to suggest some things we should look for in the coming year.

We need to look out for time. Time is all we have. It’s the stuff of which life is composed, and it's therefore important what use we make of it. Time misused is not just a shame, it may even be a sin. Procrastination is a constant problem. It has been in the past and it will be in the future. We have such a short amount of time that it behooves us to protect and care for it meticulously. For one thing, it is not time to rest. The scriptures say “there remaineth therefore a rest for the people of God.” They also speak of “redeeming the time,” the implication being that we buy it up for an effective use. Leisure time is good; but it should be the exception, not the rule. It is something to be earned, then enjoyed. We must guard our time. It’s all we have. (Read Hebrews 4:9)

We need to look to our plea. We have a plea for a return to New Testament Christianity. It is a plea that not only makes good sense, but has eternal ramifications. Its importance is seen in what it does–it makes Christians, saved people. It makes churches, saved people. It recommends Jesus as the hope of the world. It is distinctive in that it treats man’s inner most being, not just his physical and social needs. It is distinctive in that it has no worldly organization, only that which is authorized and commanded by the Creator. It is a plea for people, people who are not welded to the things of the world, who realize that we tend toward a spiritual destiny, who understand that we live in a probationary period, one where we equip ourselves for that divine destiny. Now doesn’t that sound important? Then how can we neglect it? How can we ignore it? How can we relegate it to second place? (Read I Peter 4:11)

We need to look to our attitudes. Attitudes are such an important consideration. Our attitude is our spiritual posture. As such, it’s descriptive of what we are apt to do in a given situation. When things are good, we would do well to be thankful and, at the same time, careful. When things are bad, we would do well to adjust our attitude to fit the occasion, to understand patience and the need to remain faithful, no matter the situation. Our attitudes as husbands and wives, fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, are the dispositions that form our conduct in these various roles. That means they should be formed carefully and used efficiently. We might do well to remember, too, that attitudes are formed by what we hear, see and read, what impresses us in various ways, and develop a real caution as to what we allow residency in our minds. (Read Matthew 5:3-12)

We need to watch where we’re going. Everyone is going somewhere, and no matter who that someone is, he makes his own choice as to his destination. We would do well to remember that in the final matter of things, there are only two ways to go–the broad way or the narrow way. And while we give intellectual assent to the fact of how foolish it is to choose the broad way, if we’re not careful we can do so by default. That is, we get a little off course and make little excursions away from the narrow way and first thing we know we’ve taken a wrong turn and are going the wrong direction. Many a person has gotten off course just because he decided to make to make a little side trip. (Read Matthew 7:13-14)

We need to look ahead at our various emphases. Everybody is majoring in something–not just in school, but in life. It may be a trite expression, but if we’re not careful we can major in minors and minor in majors. That is, we can easily give a first rate dedication to a second rate cause. Is it asking too much that we sit down in some quiet place and determine what will have priority in our lives? And once we’ve made the list, is it asking too much that we give primary attention to it, not merely intellectual approval? When everything is said and done and we have finished with the school room of life, our eternal destiny will be measured by whether or not we completed our major. What will your major be? (Read Matthew 22:37-40)

We need to look homeward. No Christian is mature we does not seem himself as a stranger in a foreign land, a so-journer in another country. “This world is not my home, I’m just ‘a passing through,” says Albert E. Brumley’s song. When we feel such a strong attachment to this world, it becomes increasingly difficult to look at where we’re supposed to be going. The view becomes dim and cloudy. And that’s a shame, because where we’re going is a far grander place than the place where we are. We need to look to Jesus who authored our faith, as to Him who will finally finish our faith. Anything less than a homeward view is foolish. To put our faith in this world and its offerings is to commit spiritual suicide. Look up. It’s were it’s at. (Read I Peter 2:9-11)

Just a few things that should grab our attention in the coming year. We need to look back; we need to look forward to the new year. But we would be foolish not to look inward, as well.

--Dee Bowman