Join us as we explore God’s ancient wisdom and apply it to our modern lives. His word is as current and relevant today as it was when he inspired its authors more than two and a half millennia ago. The websites where you can reach us are alittlewalkwithgod.com, richardagee.com, or saf.church.
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Thanks for joining me today for "A Little Walk with God." I'm your host Richard Agee.
The new year is here. We’ve had almost a week to figure out what we expect from it. So far it looks like the same old politics and news and violence between nations. We’ve already had mass murders in our country and others. We’ve had an attack in Iraq that killed an Iranian general. We’ve escalated tensions in the Middle East again. We’ve riled the public and politicians against each other as to the actions taken in retaliation of the assault on our embassy. Was it too harsh? Was it too late or too early? Should there have been more talk? What’s next?
Yes, this year has started out much like the last. Lots of words by lots of people and most of what is said is meaningless. The Teacher in Ecclesiastes had it right thinking about what goes on the world. “There is nothing new under the sun, and it’s all meaningless.”
We could be pretty pessimistic about the future if we chose. We could look at the new year the way I’ve described it above and give up on the world. It would be so easy to just let things go and not worry about anything because we know where everything will eventually end up. Armageddon will eventually become a reality and the world will end. Some will find salvation in believing in Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Many will be eternally lost because they refuse to believe the evidence that he is God and came to save us.
But I don’t think that is what God expects us to do in 2020. I don’t think the year is as bleak as it appears in the news reports or as horrid as some want us to believe. We are bombarded by words that the world uses to create a picture of despair and hopelessness. However, 2000 years ago a man named John penned a description of one whom he identified as “the Word.” Not words to sway a crowd, but the originator of all there is. The one present at the beginning of creation. The one credited with giving us the ability today to put thoughts together to sway men and women. It is through his creative act that we have the ability to reason and think and communicate, unlike the rest of the animal kingdom.
John described “the Word,” the personification of truth and grace. He came from heaven, lived among us for some 33 years, taught us what God was like, died as a sacrifice for our sins, rose from the dead, and sits as our intercessor with the Father. As we listen to the deluge of words that come through the multimedia jungle, remember the real Word. The one who brings peace to troubled hearts. The one who heals broken relationships. The one who mends shattered lives. The one who forgives and frees from guilt. The one who welcomes the outcast and brings hope to the hopeless.
2020 will come with its share of good and bad events in life, just like every year before and after it. The question for each of us is whether we will face it with the hope that Jesus brings or try to move along without him. I can tell you from experience, the bad that comes is so much easier to handle when he is by your side. So, replace the words that the world sends your way with “the Word,” the truth, the light, the life, the way, the hope, the joy, all you could really want because he is God and knows you better than you know yourself. Give yourself to him fully and completely this year and you will find the world’s words cannot hurt you or put you in a state despair or keep you from the joy and peace he has to offer. It’s the legacy he leaves for those who follow him.
Welcome to 2020. A great year to listen to the Word.
You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more Bible-based teaching. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn't, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day.
