Happy New Year! I’m a little behind in setting my resolutions for the year. But, I have two favorites that keep cropping up each January: exercise more and lose weight. Some would say that these goals are not specific enough, but I beg to differ. They say, “What does ‘exercise more’ mean?” Obviously they do not know me. If I exercise one day in 2012, I will hit my goal. As for losing weight, that seems also very obvious: I weigh one hundred and sixty pounds (give or take). Okay, maybe that was high school. But in any case, I just have to weigh less (at some point in 2012) than I do now. I usually get sick a couple of times each year, so that goal is also pretty easy to hit.Of course there are more romantic or life-changing goals out there. Some have “bucket lists”—things they hope to do before they “kick the bucket.” I have those, too. Unfortunately, most of these require planning, time, money, effort, and ambition. I may have to live a little longer.
Seriously, though, “bucket lists” are a great concept; but have you ever noticed how self-focused they tend to be. If the premise is “what I want to do before I die”: well, there may be too many “I” references in that statement. Part of our cultural problem is a focus on self. In effect, you and I are working on our personal “bucket lists” every day. We do what we want to do. You and I are part of an affluent culture bent on serving ourselves. That influence is hard to shake.
The Publishers’ Clearing House commercials are on television again. Imagine: someone is going to win one million dollars each year for the rest of their lives! Talk about painting a target on your back. What if their budget for the promotion is only fifteen million? Anyway, perhaps you start thinking about what you could do with an extra six hundred thousand dollars each year (or four hundred thousand if a certain someone is re-elected). Wow! But think again; frankly, that’s not enough. One couldn’t entertain every whim with that income. There would still be things added to the bucket list every year.
King Solomon discovered this long ago; and if there was ever anyone at the top of the pile, it was him! King Solomon had the ability and resources to do ANYTHING he pleased—and he did most of them. But the book of Ecclesiastes reveals that accomplishing his bucket list did not satisfy him.
The Christmas story hit me anew this year. The question “why?” hung in the air over the Christmas Eve service. As God, Jesus had no needs. He had infinite power and infinite ability. He had limitless resources. But, He created a perfect world, and in that world He placed people with the capacity to love or ignore Him, and then He chose to come to earth to redeem the ones who ignored Him. Why? The Greek word is transliterated “agape”: God’s pure and perfect, preferential love.
Christ’s “bucket list” was (1) please strip me of all honor, glory; (2) confine me within a frail human body; (3) let me grow up in a cruel and occupied country; (4) let me seek to save the lost; (5) give me twelve imperfect followers through whom I will change the world; (6) let me be despised, rejected, and crucified by the masses and even the religious (who should have known who I was); and (7) by my death and resurrection, let me atone for the sins of the world, offering salvation as a free gift to any who call on my name.
Quite a “bucket list;” quite a Savior! You can’t emulate Him, if you do not know Him. If you know Him, review your ‘bucket list.” Is it sacrificial; is it redemptive; does it serve someone other than you? Our world is full of needs begging for prayer, resources, and servants. May 2012 become the year we learn to truly see others and serve them (for a change).
Good luck and God’s Blessings to you in the New Year!
