Pastors' Corner

It is the first of the year and many of us stop and take a look at ourselves and think of changes that we might like to make. We call them New Year’s Resolutions. A new year is a chance to make some changes to our lives that we have let slip over the previous year. Perhaps a few pounds have shown up from nowhere, or some bad habits have made their way into our workout, okay maybe we just stopped working out. Whatever it might be, we ask ourselves the question, “Should we make these resolutions or not?” Turn this question around and ask, “Why would we not want to better ourselves?” Let’s face it, good habits never happen by accident they are well thought out and usually a lot of work. The older we get it seems to be much harder to make the changes we would like to see or even know we need to make in life.

The University of Scranton research suggests that at the end of the year only 8% of people reached their New Year’s goal. If we fail this year, we will more than likely start over next year. Some of these changes are only temporary and only give us a few more years on this earth, but when this is over then what. I am not telling you all this to discourage you from making changes in your life. I think it is great to do our best in everything we do. I guess my main point is, have you thought about making changes that will change your eternal destination? Some of you are thinking, now he’s going to get all preachy on us, but please don’t stop reading this. This is a change that at first might sound like a hard thing, but it really is not. Jesus has done everything for us. All we have to do is accept the fact that we can’t make the changes to be right with God on our own, but Jesus has already taken care of it. The old saying “no pain no gain” will not work for us in this area of our lives. We cannot do anything to make God love us more, and there is nothing we can do to make him love us less. He gave his life for us on the cross before we even knew we needed him. Jesus made a way for us when we didn’t know we needed the way made. We could really say it like this “Our gain is because of his pain”.

If you have been thinking about going back to church or maybe going to church for the first time, I encourage you to follow through. I truly believe that your success will be much higher than 8%. Churches and church people are not perfect and yes if you are in church someone will probably say something or do something that offends you and you will be tempted to leave. However, I can guarantee you one thing that if you will surrender your life to Christ and let him in, He will love you to the end. His love for us goes back to the cross and to the Father in Heaven. You might not understand everything about God, but one thing I know (and you can know too) is that no matter how many mistakes I make or how bad I mess up, his grace will always be there for me. Won’t you give him a chance this year? You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.