When I reached a certain age, my waistline started
expanding. And even though I lost 25 pounds last year, there didn’t seem to be
a corresponding decrease in my waistline!
I’m told that’s natural for men of my age!
Analogously, it is also natural for our spiritual ‘lines’ to
expand. Jesus compared us to new wineskins that
could stretch with maturation. A. W. Tozer said, “The widest thing in the
universe is not space, but the potential capacity of the human spirit—unlimited
expansion.”
Some of you must be thinking you have too many
hindrances to hope for such boundless progress. But
as we begin this New Year, let's not look back at what-might-have-seemed an unlucky '13. Instead, let us “forget what lies behind and reach
forward (expanding) to what lies ahead, throwing off everything
that hinders us so we can run with endurance the race marked out for us” (Phil. 3:14; Heb. 12:1, edited). In '14, expect expansion.
Though we might wish to be upbeat about 2010, it’s hard to ignore the facts: it was a year of loss, beginning with a massive earthquake in Haiti—our hemisphere’s poorest country—killing 250 thousand and leaving millions homeless. Only a month later, another earthquake jolted Chile, causing the death of 775 and $30 billion in damage. In April the BP Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion killed 11 men and caused unknown billions of $ in damage to local communities and businesses and unknown loss of marine life. Meanwhile the recession was unabated; more people lost their jobs as unemployment hovered at 10%. And finally, a loss to our nation’s financial health as the national debt doubled in size to $14 trillion.
But it wasn’t all loss. Probably, the most inspiring event of the year, if not the decade, was the dramatic October rescue of the Chilean miners from a collapsed coal mine. It was a ‘gain’ for humanity—a tribute to the abilities of men.
Gains and losses: that’s how man measures his years. So once again I am reminded by Watchman Nee: “In spiritual matters, we measure ourselves not in terms of gains, but in losses,” of course referring to Jesus' warning: “If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give it up for me, you will find it” (Mat. 10:39). So the question I ask myself today is “how much of ‘me’ did I lose this year?” Is there less of ‘Greg’ and more of Jesus? And that is how I will judge 2010.
