Month: December 2021

Consistency

“consistency” is defined as “steadfast adherence to the same principles, course, form, etc.”

Every year I look back at the previous year. As I do, I begin to formulate goals for the coming year. Those goals normally affect every area of my life.

One of my goals for 2021 was to systematically lose twenty pounds. I lost eighteen…close enough. I will once again set a weight-loss goal for 2022 that I am sure will give me a few “brownie points” with my doctors.

As I get older, my goal setting becomes more inward focused. I desire to be a better, “Husband. Father. Grand Father. Great Grand Father.” I am including these annual goals, however, I am adding a new, single goal for 2022. “I Want to Be More Consistent.” Let me explain.

I don’t just want to set the “broad strokes” of my goals on being a better “husband, father, grandfather, and great grandfather.” I want to be consistent in EVERY area of my life.

I want to be consistent in:

My Bible Studies. As a pastor I spend many hours every day, 365 days of the year in some sort of Bible study. However, I want to be more consistent in my approach, planning, and attaining a deeper, solid, and retention in my Bible study.

My Prayer Life. Once again, I find myself “catching up” in my prayer life to events and notifications from others needing prayer. I tend to make everyone else’s prayer needs above my own. I want to be more consistent in having conversations with the Creator and my Savior that leads to a deeper and more familiar relationship with God.

My Meditation. Meditation on the Lord and His Word seems, time and again, to be pushed to the back of my priority list…and yet meditation, “chewing the cud” if you will, have been some of the most fulfilling and precious moments in my life. Meditating on the Psalmist words, “What is man that you are mindful of him” is one of my favorite places to camp. But I am missing out on the many prayers in the Bible that bring joy and satisfaction to my life.

My Preaching. I want to be more consistent in my delivery and presentation. I have studied for hours and too many times my delivery and presentation are not what I envisioned. I long to be a “vessel for God’s use” in the pulpit.

My Teaching. I believe my one gift is teaching; however, I want to have the same passion and fire throughout a Bible Study series. I am excited to begin a new study, but in the last few lessons, I find I am already beginning to put my passion and fire into the next study to pen and ink. I want to finish strong in each Bible study I write, every time.

My Servanthood. My desire in 2022 is to expand and develop my life on “servanthood.” Jesus’ whole mission on the earth was to “please His Father.” I want that same single sightedness to be in the very fabric of everything I do. I want to serve the Lord in joy and gladness that Christ had in serving His Father.

I would ask you to join me by reminding me of my 2022 goals. I covet your help. I found myself saying, “I want to be consistently consistent.”

The Days Were Accomplished

Luke 2:6 (KJV) And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.

While Joseph and Mary were in Bethlehem, Mary gave birth to Jesus. When Immanuel took in His first breath, the angels were ready to announce the greatest birth of all time. I find it very interesting of where the announcement of the angel of the Lord was NOT made.

  • The angel of the Lord did not go to the “city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)” (Luke 2:4).
  • The announcement didn’t go to his family in Bethlehem that had come for the taxing.
  • The announcement wasn’t made to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
  • The declaration was not made to the Chief Priests, Scribes, Pharisees, or Sadducees.
  • The proclamation was withheld from the Rabbi’s teaching on the Temple mount

Instead, the angel proclaimed the birth to shepherds in their fields by night. They were doing what their families had done for generations…tending sheep. Perhaps these shepherds oversaw the sheep destined for sacrifice on the altar in Jerusalem.
With a flash of blinding light a chorus of angels sing. His announcement was followed immediately by an army of angels who had been waiting for nine months, but really, for all of eternity, to sing their anthem song: “Glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth to men.”
The shepherds decided to investigate the birth for themselves. When they saw the Messiah in a manger, they were overjoyed. Their intuitive response was to tell everyone they could find that the Savior of the world was born.
These shepherds were the first to worship Jesus, and they were the first evangelists of the Christian era.