New Year, New Goals

There was a period of about 400 years between the end of the Old Testament writings and the beginning of the events recorded in the New Testament. This inter-testamental period is often referred to as “the 400 Silent Years,” because during this time we have no record of any new revelations from God to the Jewish people.

It has not been quite that long since my last column, but the combination of the busy holidays and the bad weather makes it seem like a long interval of separation. Sandy and I missed being at Cordova Baptist Church this past Sunday, even though we enjoyed the opportunity to worship with our daughter and her family at New Vision Baptist in Murfreesboro and to take part in Sidney’s baptism. Now that the holidays are behind us, and hopefully the bad weather as well, we can start focusing on the opportunities and challenges of this New Year.

I am curious how many of you have set some new goals for this year? While I am not one for making resolutions, I do like to establish some realistic targets to shoot for in various areas of my life. For instance, I am determined to read the Bible through again this year. There are many excellent plans available on-line. The one I am using involves reading an Old Testament, New Testament, and Psalms/Proverbs passage each day. I recently saw one that utilized a chronological order for reading the Bible. I urge you to make increased Bible Study a part of your growth plans for 2017.

Another goal is to expand my prayer time during this New Year. I am already using my exercise time to pray for the needs of our church family. The CBC weekly “Prayer and Praise List” is also instrumental to my personal prayer time. Yet, my goal for this year is to incorporate the scriptures into my prayers, so that I might be assured that I am praying in accordance to God’s will and His Word. I have done this in the past, but not in an organized fashion. My plan is to pause and pray in the midst of my reading, whenever I feel the Spirit of God speaking to my heart about a need in my own life or a concern in the life of someone else.

While these spiritual growth goals are important to me, I have also set some

personal growth goals in my continued pursuit of good health. To whatever degree possible, I urge you to get moving and keep moving for the sake of your physical wellbeing. There is a definite link between our physical and spiritual health, so let’s strive to grow stronger in body and spirit.

Serving in love,

Bro. Jim