A New Year's Examination

story is told of a man who called the doctor and told the doctor that his wife was having problems of hearing and he wanted the doctor to check her out. So the doctor said check her out at home and see how bad it is before you bring her in. Man said how do I do that. Doctor said ask her something from the other side of the room and keep getting closer until she responds back to what you said. So man goes home and she is in the kitchen making supper and from the other side of the kitchen husband goes Is dinner about ready honey. He didn’t hear anything. So he goes to the center of the kitchen and says Dinner about ready honey. Still didn’t hear anything. So he gets up right behind her and goes dinner about ready honey and at that point she turns around and says for the third time Yes.

Well, you have made it. We come to the end of one year and the beginning of a new year. It’s called a new year, because it allows us to start over. To begin anew. And so here is the chance, today everything about the last year is gone. Tonight at 12:00 will be the dawning of not just a new day but a new year, and so I want to ask us today how we are going to change. And so over the next few moments today, I want us to look at the way we lived our life in 2006 and the changes that we possibly need to make in 2007.

And it focuses on priorities. I don’t want to you to respond publicly but what are your priorities. Now if I was to ask you what is your #1 priority what would you say? Now many would say well we are in church so the answer should be God. Yeah that’s it God. But let’s don’t kid ourselves. Let’s be honest. If we are going to say that God is #1 then it must be evident. And I don’t mean that he is #1 in my life on Sunday morning or #1 when I am experiencing a problem, but I’m talking about in our normal everyday living, what are our priorities in life.

Here is just one example. Here are the percentages of resolutions that people have promised to make for 2007:

Now if you are into making goals and wanting to set them there is a website just for you. It’s called mygoals.com and it helps you stay on track, but it also has trends for what people are going to make as goals for 2007. Here is the breakdown.:

* 27% of resolutions involve health and fitness which is down from last year.

* 15% personal growth and interests

* 15% personal finance

* 9% education and training

* 6% time management and organization

* 5% recreation and leisure

* 5% family and relationships

So let’s go back to priorities for a second. We said well surely the answer should be God is #1 but notice that list again. Did you hear me mention any resolution concerning God. It’s not their. To find anything about spirituality you have to look in the personal growth section and their you will see that in the personal growth and interests the second most popular resolutions only 2% are interested in becoming more spiritual. By the way that improving one’s mind and attitude is at 27% and improving one’s appearance is at 22%. Yet changing their spiritual makeup only a dismal 2%. Need further proof? The Barna Group which specializes in research about Christianity reported that only 1 out of 7 adults (15%) place their faith in God at the top of the priority list. You say well that’s not fair because some of those are non-Christians. Okay the survey goes on and says that out of Christians not quite 1 out of 4 (23%) place their faith in God at the top of the priority list. The majority of people are focused on the here and now and not on their relationship with God.

Now please hear me correctly. I do believe that it is important to improve our health and our relationships. To be better in these areas of our lives, but the best way to improve those areas is to focus on improving our spiritual lives. But God wants to be a part of every aspect of our lives. We need to focus more on the Giver than the gifts!

Oh it’s my prayer that this year will mark the beginning of a time in our own lives and in the life of this nation that we will focus our priorities on Christ and praising Him for all that transpires in our life. And to give him thanks. After all that’s what I Corinthians 10:31 says. “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of the God.” Oh I pray that this year we will put God first and do everything in His name.