Shortly before leaving Scotland this week, I had the privilege of sharing in church services at my home church. It's become kind of a "tradition" now that I speak in the church on the first Sunday of every year. My word to the children this year was something that has become one of my "life messages" over the past thirty years or so. I am thoroughly convinced of the spiritual capacity of children and teenagers, and so I wanted to start the year by encouraging the youngsters that they are never "too young" to know God, talk to Him, read His Word and hear His voice. My message to the adults was about stewardship, I guess: it was a challenge to be faithful with what God has entrusted to us in 2014, and to step out in using our talents to serve God and others in this new year.
After I arrived in Spain, a different kind of stewardship raised its head. It was still dark when I got up yesterday morning and I got a shock to discover that my little car (a tiny Hyundai Atos that has always been very dependable) wouldn't start. At first I thought the battery was just sluggish because the car had been sitting unused for a couple of weeks. But lights, wipers, etc, seemed to be working normally. In the end, I had to call for roadside assistance, who told me that the problem was, in fact, with the battery: it had come to the end of its lifespan and, although working a little, it no longer had enough power to start the car. It was time for me to maintain my car by installing a new battery.
Thinking about batteries made me think too about stewardship of our lives and our relationship with God. Spending time with God every day - praying to Him and reading His Word - is like recharging our spiritual battery. If we don't do it for a while, we may find that we're spiritually sluggish and slow to get started when God calls us to action.
But if we've never been born again, if we've never personally taken that step of inviting God to be the driving power in our lives, we need to have our old lives, our old "battery" replaced by a new life and a new heart. It doesn't matter how often we try to recharge or rework our old lives in our own strength; unless we allow God to give us a new battery, we are doomed to failure. In the Bible, in Ezekiel 36: 26, God offers to do that for us. He says, "I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart."
Sometimes, even when we have that new heart, and even when we're regularly "recharging" by spending time in God's presence, there come seasons in our life where God wants to "enlarge our heart" in some way - to make room for something or someone else that He has for us. One translation of Psalm 119 vs 32 says, "I will eagerly run to obey your commandments when you enlarge my heart."
Just as my car had its small battery removed yesterday, and a larger, more powerful battery put in its place, there are seasons in life when God seeks to enlarge our hearts and expand our capacity. As with my car, this may require a few "adjustments" in our lives in order to make room for the new thing that God desires for us. Perhaps 2014 will be one of those times for you or for me. May God make us sensitive and willing for the new things that He has for us this year.
And if 2014 doesn't turn out to be the time for a "new battery," let's continue anyway to keep recharging the old one, and refuelling spiritually by spending regular time in the presence of God. Many blessings to you in this new year.
