A new year, go us right? We make our resolutions, and maybe we stick to them, but in the end is there anything different about today and yesterday that makes them better than Saturday? Why do we get so obsessed about days? Think about it, birthdays, holidays, Saturday, Sunday, we pick days and give them more significance than other days. What makes the day someone was born more important to us than every other day of our lives? Well that person of course. We care to make a day significant because of the importance of the person(s) we are remembering/recognizing. So, a day becomes is exciting to us based on who we are praising or paying homage to, well here is a cliche thought, what if we gave every day to God, to celebrate our savior. Maybe instead of making a single day of the year, month or week significant, every day is a day of remembrance and worship of our king. I challenge you to make a daily resolution, to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, I challenge you to love your neighbor as yourself. I'm sure that yesterday mornings sermons sounded somewhat similar to this, and I know I'm not saying anything that you haven't thought of already. But what has changed? Come on, it's 2012, a new year, a clean slate, it's time to move. It's time to stand up and be a little barbaric in your faith. When I say love your neighbor as yourself I don't mean an intellectual assent to what that might mean. I mean for us to live that, if my actions aren't a gospel of love then I have failed. When I want to make a day special for someone I love, I don't spare any expense, I don't care how much it costs me or how much work it takes, I want the best for that person. When was the last time you threw a party for your "neighbor"? I'm sure that you have heard the story about how Tony Campolo once threw a party for a prostitute because it was her birthday. (If you haven't, here you go http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWlMV-UmueM) Man, that is what this is all about, people making people the center of our worship. By that I mean that if we want to claim to worship the Christ then we have to love people the way Christ would love them. Jesus didn't come to save you and have it end. He didn't come to give you righteousness, so you could ignore everyone else knowing that you are saved. Jesus came to show you how someone who is righteous lives. And that looks like a guy who throws parties for prostitutes at 3:30 in the morning, not for the recognition but so that at least one girl who has never had a birthday party in her life might feel the love of Jesus in her life. So, are you ready church? Are you ready to make a resolution to live a real life this year. Don't make it today, make it every day. When you wake up tomorrow resolve to listen to the prompting of the Lord and to show love to everyone you see. I'm ready to see this world knocked over by the waves of Christ's love coming from the people of God!
May God grant you strength and mercy as you walk this year humbled before your Lord, may the King of all things draw you further in to His Kingdom and may you be ever mindful to make each day a celebration of His love, Jesus, my King, my Savior push me forward that I may crash into this world with your love, your joy and your peace. Amen.
