CONSIDERATIONS FOR THE NEW YEAR

As we pass from one year into another it is an appropriate time for reflection.  There are four things worth considering.

1.  The brevity of time and the length of eternity.  The Psalmist could say “Behold thou hast made my days as an handbreadth”; “We spend out years as a tale that is told.”  In past generations death and eternity were constantly in people's minds.  Today we have a Christianity that has lost its bearings with respect to eternity.  The reality of eternity sits and rests all too lightly upon us.

2.  The worth of our never-dying souls.  “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”  The state of the soul will determine our destiny.  “Ours is a religion,” says G Vos, “whose centre of gravity lies beyond the grave in the world to come.”  True life for God is life lived in the light of eternity.  A vision of heaven is a powerful incentive to action in this present life.

3.  The vanity of the things of this world.  We are living in a world where everything is fading, decaying and dying.  Samuel Rutherford wrote, “Build your nest upon no tree here for God hath sold the whole forest to death.”  We are so prone to settle down and imbibe the spirit of the age.  “Adversity has slain its thousands but prosperity its tens of thousands”, said Thomas Hooker and “The church never grew up so fast as when under most persecution.”

4. The necessity to make our calling and election sure.  The great question is: Do you have a sure and certain hope for eternity?  We need to recover the urgency of making sure that we are on the right road.  Thomas Manton said; “No destiny deserveth to be known so much as this.  Shall I be saved or shall I be damned; live everlastingly in heaven or hell?”  Thomas Watson says that God would have us live every day as if it were the last day.

A word from the interim moderator