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Each Year, a Gift

Jerry Akin Leave a comment

Not everyone is a morning person, I get that. But I am. Unless I am just exhausted and way behind on sleep, I love waking up before the dawn and being able to witness the sunlight whenever it first starts breaking in through the windows. I love to suddenly become aware of the moment that the birds first start to sing. I love beginning each day with a prayer of thanksgiving and having a cup of coffee as I reflect on God’s goodness and mercy in my life. As I meditate on this, I offer up prayers for my family, my friends, and for the church and all the people in it. I’ve noticed that no matter how the day before went, if I stick to this routine, it helps me to live each day with a fresh, healthy perspective, and a renewed since of purpose. After all, each day is a gift, and each day is a chance to grow in and share God’s love.

Having said that, it should come as no surprise that I also cherish the hope and potential that each new year brings. It is like a new day, but on a grand scale. We are greeted with the opportunity to live another year here on earth, and to make the most of whatever lies ahead of us. Just like a morning routine can effect the way you approach a new day, our perspectives heading into a new year can be equally powerful.

Not all days will be good. Not all years will be good. In fact, some of them will be incredibly difficult and painful, but make no mistake, each new day, each new week, and each new year truly is a gift from God, the Author and Sustainer of life. If we commit to beginning each one with hope and with thanksgiving, we will move forward with a more Christlike perspective, and whether wonderful or difficult times lie ahead, we will be more prepared for the future because we enter into it with hope, joy, and thanksgiving. I pray that you embrace this new year as a gift from the God who gave it. May it be a year of blessing for you and your loved ones, and may we all grow in grace together in 2025.

Just Your Imagination

Jerry Akin Leave a comment

“It’s just your imagination.” I remember my mom telling me this many times as a child when I would get up in the middle of the night and tell her that I heard a monster moving around in my room. At some point in your life, you’ve probably also been told “it’s just your imagination,” and the phrase was meant to be either comforting or dismissive, implying that reality is not necessarily what is going on inside your head. But that doesn’t mean that the imagination is powerless. In fact, the imagination is one of the most powerful forces on earth. After all, when I heard those monsters in my room, it may have been “just my imagination,” but the fear I felt was very, very real. 

When Jesus came walking out on the water towards the disciples as they were in their boat, fear seized them. They were sure it was a ghost. Their imaginations ran wild, and fear took over. Once Jesus assured them that it was He who approached him, Peter’s imagination took a drastic turn. He went from panicked to utterly confident. He could see himself walking on the water too. He got out of the boat, and he actually took a few successful steps. Then his mind took another turn. He began to look at the reality of what he was doing, and suddenly it seemed illogical. He panicked, and began to sink.

In this short passage of scripture, we are shown repeatedly how powerful our minds, and what we use them to imagine, can be. God gave us our imaginations, and He wants us to use them for good. Like Peter, who by faith could imagine himself walking toward Jesus, God longs for us to utilize our imaginations in faith, capturing His vision, and then creatively finding ways to make that vision happen here on earth. Yes, God is the chief creator, and we are His creation, but miraculously, God calls us to collaborate with Him so that Creator and creation can work together to advance His original vision. In order to do this however, the imagination must be tamed; it must be sanctified.

How do we sanctify the imagination? Just like anything else— by recognizing that we don’t sanctify. We submit it to God and let Him sanctify it, purify it, and redeem it through His grace. And how should we use the imagination? In whatever way God moves us, and in whatever manner that He calls us or inspires us. We are created in the image of the ultimate Creator, and what a wonderful thing it is that the Creator has designed us to collaborate and create with Him.

deeper

Jerry Akin Leave a comment

Rapid commutes, instant communication, and living in a faster, smaller world has made us masters at multi-tasking. But for all that we are able to easily and readily accomplish, how much of it is done hastily and without much thought?

We are in danger of becoming surface-people: People who so quickly skim and scan over so many things that we rarely allow ourselves time to truly sink into the deep parts of our conversations, our relationships, and our spiritual reflections. Yes, the COVID-19 Pandemic forced us to slow down in certain areas, but in other ways, it made us a more virtual people than ever before. The time it takes you to get to your next appointment or important meeting could simply be the amount of time it takes you to log onto Zoom or Skype. Schools and churches are meeting virtually, allowing us to quickly gain access to the knowledge we need or desire, and then move along. 

Without ever slowing down, without a time of deliberate reflection, we risk becoming more and more shallow— shallow friends and shallow believers with shallow experiences. This is the opposite of what we are called into as we seek to follow Christ.

When the rich man came to Jesus and asked how he could become a follower, Jesus told him to sell everything he owned. It’s easy to hear this statement and think that Jesus was anti-wealth, but He wasn’t. The point of Jesus’ command to the rich man was that if he truly wanted to follow Jesus, it couldn’t be a shallow experience. It couldn’t be just another thing he dipped his toe into as he continued to acquire and amass many other things. Jesus was saying, if you want to follow me, you’ve got to jump all the way in, with both feet, into the deep end.

Where is it that we are not diving in deeply enough? In a life filled with quick, shallow experiences and encounters, where is Christ telling us to go deeper?

In a fast-paced world, we tend to treat everything like it’s simply the next thing we need do before we move on to something else. But Jesus said to love the Lord with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself. These are not surface actions. These do not allow for shallow experiences. When it comes to matters of the heart, matters of the soul, matters of our relationships— When it comes to following Christ, we are not called to be surface people. We are called to go deeper.