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2009 should be the year of things not to do. Everywhere I look, people are giving me stuff to do. Lose weight, go to bed early, eat more veg, watch less TV, file your paperwork, blah, blah, blah. Honestly, I’m sick of it.
Still, if I do nothing, well, nothing gets done. I can’t do nothing. Then I feel worse than I did doing too many things–even if they were the wrong things. Maybe I need to do different things? Maybe Jesus has ideas.
John 13
1. Stop taking yourself so seriously. Let go of your independence, and let him fill you to the point that you can wash someone’s stinky feet. This will be hard to do.
2. Wash your enemy’s feet too. This will be really hard to do. I’ll have to completely abandon myself; let Christ work through me literally. I cannot be nice to a jerk without… well, I cannot be nice to a jerk, period. Christ will have to do that for me.
3. Start loving people NOT as I want to be loved (I’m so subjective), but as Christ loved me. He raised the bar. I can’t do it. See #1-2.
4. If you’re a preacher, let people ask questions. Jesus did. Most of us who listen to you week in, week out, are really getting tired of you doing all the talking. See #1.
John 14
5. Remember that JESUS is the way, the truth, the life. Not our sermons, programs, teaching, seminaries, or clean bathrooms. Jesus. That’s it. See #1.
6. Pray in Jesus’ name not as a magic incantation, but as his representative. Know what he wants to do before asking ANYTHING in his name. Most of our prayers are terribly presumptuous. See #1 again.
7. Remember that the Holy Spirit talks to all the believers–we’re all priests of God. We seem to be losing that idea. Recapture it. See #1 (OK, all of these start and end with #1, don’t they?).
8. Stop being afraid. Stop being afraid of anything.
John 15
9. Get into this abiding thing. This may just be a restatement of #1. Whatever. He is trying to live through you and me. All of us at the same time. Let him. The results will change the world and amaze the Executive Committee (who seem to be able to do…nothing).
10. Be happy. The world hates you; so what? Be a happy witness. See #1.
Ten is enough. Read the Bible and you might find some more, but they all come back to being happy and filled with Jesus Christ.
Happy, happy 2009.
