Pastor's Corner
Greetings, all, in Jesus' name, and happy new year!
As 2018 now begins, you may be wondering as to what this new year will bring, or you might be hoping and praying that this year will be better than 2017 if the past year had, in your mind, too many trials and tribulations that seemed to go on and on all year long.
With many of you, perhaps last year was difficult due to sickness and bereavement or conflict both inside and outside the house of God.
However, despite all that may have happened in a negative way in 2017, I serve to remind you that Jesus still reigns supreme at the side of his father, God, and the Lord still wants us to maintain faith in him and know that he loves us.
In Hebrews 12, the writer encourages the Christians, who, faced with increasing opposition and troubles, were thinking of giving up on their faith. The writer encourages these saints to just hang in there because Jesus was, and still is, the divine revelation of a supreme and powerful God, and that, through Jesus, believers can be saved from sin, and that Jesus provides the true and real salvation, which is available to all who desire to turn from their wicked ways.
To back up his teaching, the writer of this text goes back in time and reminds us of the inspirational stories of those who had great faith. In Hebrews 11, we can read how God dealt with these persons and caused them to be blessed, despite some very serious and often personal things they were dealing with. The lesson for us in this new year is that God still has the power to bring us from "a mess to a miracle" if we just trust in the Lord!
After sharing the powerful stories in Hebrews 11, he then tells the readers to be faithful until the end and keep their spiritual minds on Jesus, and also, to endure suffering, persecution and treachery, and this is the word for us as we now begin a new year praising the Lord. One of the key words in the text as a whole is the word, "benefit."
This word is defined as "something promoting or enhancing well-being or to gain advantage or profit from."
For example, when we pay into a retirement account, or on a typical insurance policy, when our earthly time has ended, those we have left behind should be able to reap the benefits of the policy that we had paid faithfully during our lifetime.
Likewise, when you and I have given continual spiritual and holy service unto God who has kept and preserved us over the years, we will be able to reap the holy benefits by being blessed beyond any human measure.
As I close, I urge you not to look back on what could have been. Don't dwell on what was not or who failed you as you enter into 2018. Don't dwell on who said this or who did that. Instead, put your mind on what can be in 2018; the joy and peace that God can bring into your life. Truly, the world will always have plenty of worldly pleasures to give you, but the world will never be able to give you what you need to save your soul.
So, what do you do in 2018?
Let me answer by referring to Psalm 27, where David wrote these words: "Wait on the Lord, be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart: Wait, I say, on the Lord."
And, my friends, while you are waiting, keep on praising, keep on serving, keep on rejoicing, and most of all, keep the faith, and if you do, the Lord can and will bless you in 2018 and beyond!
May God keep and bless you always is my sincere prayer!
The Rev. Milford L. Griner is associate pastor of Bartley Temple United Methodist Church in Gainesville.