A New Way to look at the NEW YEAR!

The Psalmist said in Psalm 90:  So, teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. (Psalm 90:5–6, 12)

We just celebrated New Years Eve and Day...  DID you party?  DID you Celebrate?

For me, the end of a year is like the end of my life. And 11:59 pm on December 31 is like the moment of my death. A trial run so to speak.   For I can never regain 2013 again!  It is over and gone forever, those moments were either spent wisely or foolishly.   But now I cannot go back.  

The 365 days of the year are like a miniature lifetime. And these final hours are like the last days in the hospital after the doctor has told me that the end is very near. And in these last hours, the lifetime of this year passes before my eyes, and I face the inevitable question: Did I live it well? Will Jesus Christ, the righteous judge, say “Well done, good and faithful servant”?

Although the dawning of a new year like a funeral for me, I feel fortunate, The reason I feel fortunate is that it is a great advantage to have a trial run at my own dying. 

It is a great benefit to rehearse once a year in preparation for the last scene of my life. It is a great benefit because on the morning of January 1  we were wakened with Life, and we stood and now stand at the brink of a whole new lifetime, able to start fresh all over again.  It brings me hope and joy, and expectation.  

The great thing about rehearsals is that they show you where your weaknesses are, where your preparation was faulty; and they leave you time to change before the real play.

I suppose for some of you the thought of dying is so morbid, so gloomy, so fraught with grief and pain that you do your best to keep it out of your minds, especially during holidays. I think that is unwise and that you do yourself a great disservice. For I have found that there are few things more revolutionizing for my life than a periodic pondering of my own death.

How do you get a heart of wisdom so as to know how best to live?  The answer is to ponder life.  Solomon said in the book of Ecclesiastes,  That it is better to attend a funeral than a party.  Our world would rather party.  From the Far East, to the Mid East, to Europe and Africa,  and all across the Americas people partied as the new year came in to view.   People got drunk and high and found boy friends and girlfriends to help them forget life.    Me?  I spent the evening remembering life: my life in light of God's word and ways, and I asked Him to grant me wisdom this new year!  Wisdom to love him with all my heart, and love others as if he were here among men today.