FISH - the best way to start 2008
This year, we will resolve to:
· Lose weight without dieting or exercising.
· Manage our money without budgeting or reducing our spending.
· Be better parents without changing our routines, our language, or our approach (“If something works for a two year old, it’s good enough for a fifteen year old”).
· Be a better husband without getting out of my chair or turning off the game; OR be a better spouse by turning up the complaining (“If I nag him, he will change!”).
· Go to church more often, if we wake up on time (“No need to set an alarm clock, honey. If God wants us to go to church, He’ll wake us up.”).
· Call home more often, if I can remember.
· Find Mr or Ms. Right, who can love me and accept me for who I am (“I don’t think I should have to change for someone, should I?”).
· Stop giving in to my addictions without any help or accountability (“Just because I bought the beer, doesn’t mean I’m going to drink it.”).
· Tithe, if we have any money left over after Christmas.
· Change jobs – to a place where they value my talent, my skills, double my salary, let me set my own hours, and give me unlimited paid vacation.
· Be a better person (“Really, all I have to do is make up my mind.”).
Do you think these resolutions will be kept? Resolutions fail because you start in the wrong place. It’s the error of Jesus’ opponents, the Pharisees. They thought if you could behave the right way, you would change. That does work sometimes, but not consistently.
Jesus told the Pharisees and us, “…First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean (Matthew 23:26).” Start on building strength inside and watch it transform the outside.
That’s what FISH is all about – First Improve Spiritual Health. I want to challenge you and your family to be here when we launch FISH this Sunday, January 6. We will be talking very practically about how to improve your spiritual health and how it will benefit you.
