Introduction

Several years ago, I saw an interview with professional golfer Tom Lehman, who happens to be a Christian. But I really appreciate how Tom lives out his faith as a person in the public eye. He never hijacks a conversation to talk about Jesus. If a sportscaster asks him about his faith, he is happy to talk about it, but he never brings it up if they just ask him about the round of golf he just finished. In this interview he was in his home, and the subjects were more personal than golf related. And somewhere in the conversation, Tom said, “Everyone needs three things to live well: something to do, someone to love, and something to look forward to.”

He never mentioned Jesus or faith, though I knew of his personal commitment to Christ. But as soon as he said it, I thought, “That preaches!” (It’s an occupational hazard!)

Everyone needs something to get out of bed for, if even just to let out the dog! Jobs and vocations fill up much of our time, and that’s good, but even retirement and leisure offer opportunities for productive activity, now more geared toward interests and passions.

What gets you out of bed in the morning?

And everyone needs someone to love. Notice, the advice is about giving, not just receiving, love. Yes, everyone also needs to be loved by someone, but that’s not always within our control. But I can choose to love others, especially one significant other, even if it’s the dog who needs to be let out in the morning! The capacity to love is essential to what it means to be human, perhaps even more than the ability to receive love, though the two may be closely related.

But especially today, I want to focus on the third point in Tom Lehman’s one-sentence homily: Everyone needs something to look forward to.

A pastor friend once advised, “Make sure there is something on your calendar every month that you are looking forward to.” It may be a special event or outing, a family celebration, a concert, a trip, an evening out with friends, or even just a hike in the mountains. Because human beings are one of the few creatures capable of contemplating the future, and our thoughts should be filled with hope and not dread.

Robert Louis Stevenson said: “To travel hopefully is better than to arrive.” So that is our challenge every year at this time; to look forward in hope to what the new year will bring. It won’t all be easy; there will be challenges and disappointments, as there are every year. But there are two great truths about living as followers of Jesus that help us to face the new year with confidence and hope.

Everyone needs three things to live well: something to do, someone to love, and something to look forward to.

A Christ-follower has no regrets for the past

Humorous Illustration: One of the great segments on Saturday Night Live back in the day was Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey, who was actually a real guy and one of the writers for the show. There would be some soft, inspirational music with a pastoral scene, and then the latest deep thought would scroll on the screen, usually narrated by Phil Hartman. One of my favorites was, "If you drop your car keys into a river of molten lava, don't stick your hand in to get them back. Because man, they're gone."

Read 2 Cor. 5:17 "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come; the old has gone, the new is here!"

Past mistakes are buried in the sea of God's forgetfulness. What a wonderful poetic image! Psalm 103:12 says our sin is removed from us "as far as the East is from the West."

We say, "If I had it to do over again ... View this full sermon with PRO Premium