Perseverance for the new year

Dear Friends,

I don’t know if a NEW YEAR delights you with all its natural promise of a fresh start, or defeats you with the speed in which heartfelt resolutions can be broken as OLD habits once again take hold and trump the desire to do better. In a boxing match of course, when a fighter is too beat up to continue, they always have the option of throwing in the towel, but I discovered that in days gone by if one boxer did throw in the towel and quit, any spectator could throw their hat into the ring and be seen to take up the challenge of taking on the champ for themselves. I don’t know exactly what 2017 will hold in store for all of us but I do know that each day, in every area of our life that matters, we hold in one hand our hat and in the other hand a towel. By our actions and our attitudes in whatever we are going through and with whatever we face, we will throw one or the other into the ring.

The apostle Paul tells us that he “fought the good fight.” (2 Timothy 4:7) Living for Jesus is a tough call and demands we stay the course, but it delivers the “crown of righteousness” that makes it worthwhile. At the start of the final day’s play in the 2012 Ryder Cup, the U.S.A. had a seemingly insurmountable lead, but European Captain José María Olazábal challenged his players by asking them, “Did Seve Ballesteros ever quit?” “No,” the team responded. The Captain continued, “Did Gary Player ever quit, did Jack Nicholas ever quit?” Again the team bellowed out their answer “No!” Once more Olazábal questioned them, “Did Michael Thorndike ever quit?” There was a long confused silence before one of the team shouted out, “Who the Dickens is Michel Thorndike?” Nobody had ever heard of him!  To which José María Olazábal snapped back, “Of course you haven’t; that’s because he quit!” And even non golf fans will have heard of what has now become known as the Miracle at Medinah when what is widely regarded as one of the best sporting comebacks of all time and the greatest in Ryder Cup history, took place.

Perseverance means succeeding because we are willing to not because we are entitled to, which means from a Christian perspective we hear and heed what God is saying to us so we don’t give our all for something not worth a can of beans. Christian martyr Jim Eliot wrote: “I seek not a long life, but a full one like you, Lord Jesus.” A life cut short, as Jim Eliot’s was, isn’t necessarily the greatest tragedy. Rather, it’s a life that has been squandered, a life that has been wasted and thrown away on nothingness and self-indulgence. Jesus prayed, “This is eternal life, that they may know Him, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:3). Not just for the gift of His salvation but also for the joy of serving Him. Living out what he has already put in, for if God tells us to do something, then it can be done. As (2 Peter 1:3) says: “His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue.” The calling of God is the enabling of God. Everything we need has been given to us. We cannot ADD to it, we simply need to be OPEN to it which is why this year in helping us stay the course and fight the good fight of our faith at Shirley we are to be SENSING OUR SAVIOUR and taking on board the boost of this year’s church text that “The Spirit of Him who raised Christ from the dead is living in you.” (Romans 8:11) That in the Holy Spirit we don’t just resolve to live well and to live right, we can do it. We can throw our hat into the ring and see just what is possible in Him, when we stay the course and SERVE OUR SHIRLEY through Him in 2017.  Don’t give up and throw the towel in, continue to look to the Lord because we are winners in Him and winners never quit.

You Friend and Pastor

Shaun