Monday, January 01, 2007

A Reflection for the New Year

2007 is here! The New Year's Eve parties are all held, the ball has dropped, the fireworks are all exploded, confetti is being swept away, the parades are over, and minds are slowly turning to the reality of work tomorrow.

Awww maannnn!

Like most people, this has been a reflective time for me. It's natural... between the year now sunk into eternity past and the year that lays ahead should Jesus tarry (come, Lord Jesus!)... to speculate about, plan for, and pray over the year ahead. Thanks to having to prepare a sermon for New Year's Eve, I've done less of than than normal, but I've done some.

What about you? What are your hopes, plans, and prayers for 2007? Please share. And I encourage all who read this post and any comments to pray for what others share.

My main reflection is summed up by Ligon Duncan's opening response to the opening question on the opening panel of 2006's T4G Conference. The question was, "What are you doing with your life and why?" Okay, a great question right. Lig' responded:

"When people ask me what my job is, I tell them that it is to minister to the people of God by preaching the Gospel. I:
  1. preach the word;
  2. love the people;
  3. pray down heaven;
  4. promote family religion; and
  5. train the elders of the church.
Underneath all that, I'm called to live a godly life."

Lig' shared this without batting an eye. I think it's in his bones. I can spend the entire year immersing myself in this rather full and absorbing summation of pastoral ministry. I'm both emotionally encouraged and spiritually challenged and practically helped by this.

My New Year's reflection: I want to be like Lig' Duncan when I grow up.

2 comments:

FellowElder said...

Plus: Lig knows how to rap!

Brian G. Hedges said...

You don't have any takers on this one yet, so here goes. New Years is always a time of reevaluating my reading life as a Christian and as a pastor. A couple of my goals for 07 are: (1) to begin a trek through the entire Bible, aiming to read one chapter each day, accompanied by the New Bible Commentary edited by Carson, France, Wenham, and Motyer, and journaling. (2) to systematically work through some significant books, including some material on hermeneutics, biblical history, and biblical theology, but especially working through some significant books of historical theology, such as Calvin's Institutes, Edward's Freedom of the Will, Vol. 1 of Owen's Works, etc.

Thabiti, why don't you share with us your reading and study plan? I'd like to hear how you decide which books to read, how you plan your study schedule, etc.