A New Year's Encouragement

Some of you may remember the child’s song written by Bill Gaither. “I am a Promise.” Some of the lyrics are these:

"You are a promise, you are a possibility, you are a promise with a capital "P", You are a great big bundle of potentiality.”

“You can go anywhere that he wants you to go, you can be anything that he wants you to be, you can climb the high mountain. you can cross the wide sea you're a great big promise you see.”

“So, keep on listening to hear God's voice, and keep on trying, He'll help you make the right choices. You're a promise to be anything He wants you to be.”

I debated about citing this children’s song especially because of these lyrics: "You can go anywhere that he wants you to go You can be anything that he wants you to be, you can climb the high mountain, you can cross the wide sea you're a great big promise you see . . . .”

Let’s face it. For most of us reading this, a lot of proverbial water has gone under the bridge. There are just some things we’re not going to do anymore in this life. We’re not about to climb high mountains. We’re probably not going to cross any wide sea.

But, that truth still does not alter the greater truth: You STILL are a promise. You STILL are a possibility. And you can STILL do anything God wants you to do. Even if you’re 65, or 75, or 85, or even 95.

That’s why the Holy Spirit inspired St. Paul to write these words: “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:6).

Please! Be wary of the devilish lie that God is done with you. God is NOT done with you. And that is why you can be triumphant in 2019.

The year 2019 begins tonight at midnight. And as we journey through the following 12 months with Christ at our side and the Holy Spirit dwelling within us, you can STILL do anything and be anything God wants for you.

Many of you remember the 1946 Frank Capra classic film, It’s a Wonderful Life. When George Bailey wishes he’d never been born, the angel Clarence gives him his wish, George gets to see what life would have been like if he’d never been born.

Bedford Falls is now Pottersville, and home to sleazy nightclubs and places of ‘adult entertainment.’ The pharmacist spent twenty years in prison for accidentally poisoning a child because the then ten-year-old George wasn’t there to intervene in time. George’s brother Harry died when he broke through the ice during childhood because George wasn’t there to save him. And because Harry didn’t survive, all the servicemen on the troop transport during WWII died because Harry was not there to shoot down those enemy planes.

There’s much more to the story, but I share this brief synopsis because the child’s song and this story about George Bailey make the point that God makes again and again from Genesis through Revelation: Like George Bailey, your life has intersected with hundreds, maybe thousands of lives – either directly or indirectly. And it continues to intersect to this day, every day, with the lives of others. And their lives then intersect with scores of others. Like an ever-growing snowball cascading down a snowbank, our supernatural God uses you and me – God STILL uses you and me to influence the lives of others.

That’s why your life, my life, right up to this very moment on December 31 is so important to the Kingdom Story as our lives intersect with others.

No wonder Paul wrote these words in Romans 11:33 “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways.”

Most of you are familiar with what Matthew records for us in the last portion of the 25th chapter of his gospel: “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’

I want to draw your attention to something important here. Those standing before God’s judgment seat had no idea their lives were important to God as they fed or visited or clothed others. And they were dumbfounded to hear the words of the Lord at their judgment: ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.’

What have you done in your life to help the poor and the lonely and the sick and the hungry and the cold? What kind words have you spoken to encourage the discouraged, to give hope to those without hope, to give laughter to those who could only weep?

Listen, "For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints" (Hebrews 6:10).

God sees it all. He hears it all. He watches it all. So keep at it in 2019. Don’t lose your confidence that God is STILL using you – even if you cannot see it. All He asks us to do is trust Him to use us as He promised He would do.

Let me close this message with a true story of an old missionary couple who’d worked in Africa for years. Because of poor health, they were returning to New York City to retire.

Without funds, their health depleted, they were defeated, discouraged, and afraid of the future. They soon discovered President Teddy Roosevelt was booked on the same ship. He was returning to the States after one of his African safaris.

No one paid much attention to the missionary couple during the voyage home, but they couldn’t help but notice the fanfare that accompanied the President’s entourage during the voyage. Passengers everywhere tried to glimpse the man.

When the ship docked in New York, a band was waiting to greet the President, along with the mayor and other dignitaries. No one noticed the missionary couple as they slipped off the ship to find a cheap flat on the East side.

That night, the man’s spirit broke. He said to his wife, "I can’t take this; God is not treating us fairly."

His wife said, "Why don’t tell that to the Lord?"

A short time later he came out from the bedroom, but now his demeanor was changed. His wife asked what happened.

"The Lord settled it with me," he said. "I told him how bitter I was that the President should receive this tremendous homecoming, when no one met us as we returned home. And when I finished, it seemed as though the Lord put his hand on my shoulder and simply said: “But you’re not home yet!’"

Christian, listen! You're not home yet! *

Don’t let the devil break your spirit. God is NOT done with you. And when you get ‘home’ He will say to all the faithful, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Lord.”

So, persevere for His glory through every step of your journey through 2019, and this new year will be a triumphant one for His kingdom. You are still a promise. You are still a possibility with a capital P. You are still a great big bundle of potentiality.

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* Adapted from https://www.tonycooke.org/stories-and-illustrations/not_home_yet/