Christmas has come and we have celebrated the wonderful birth of Jesus who came to this earth to save the lost and to heal the sick and brokenhearted. I am thankful that he has chosen to love and die for me and that his death and resurrection is what I need to believe to be saved. As we approach this New Year I was hoping that we could all look back over these past twelve months and reflect and what we have done, what God has done and where we are going in 2012.
My father came up for Christmas this year and we took him to one of our 6 Christmas Eve Services at our church and he was just telling us how much he missed my mom and how tough it really was on him. Friday Night (12/23) at the service, our Senior Pastor informed the congregation that this message was really tough on him because that morning his administrative assistant had died. 
I texted him later that night and shared with him how I think he used the day’s event to share the “severity” and “sincerity” of his message. That is, it is all about Jesus. No other name, no other religion – without him there is no hope! This is what brought me to this post. I could choose to talk about the New Year and resolutions: Spiritual Growth, Physical health and mental well being, but I want to talk about the “severity and sincerity” of the Message – it’s all about Jesus.
I think in our every day worlds we can sometimes lose focus on that. I think with the technology and the demands of our daily jobs we get lost in the shuffle, we lose focus on what should really matter. I think if I could fast forward all of our lives to the Judgement Seat of Christ, most Christians would be left wanting (thinking they should have done things differently or done more or loved more or given more). I do not know about you, but for me and my family, I realize just how selfish I can be with my time. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to take away from steps that you, have taken and degrees of change in your lives that have brought you and your family closer to God. I want to sharpen us further – I want to end this post with a challenge – go further – go deeper – grow deeper! Psalms 37:3-4.
Happy New Year,
Dante