A new year, a new post...

Ah, the new year. A clean slate.

I resolve to read the Bible through this year, to read 100 books, to pray more, to witness more, to study more, to exercise more, to be a better husband and father.

Of course, there are questions. Where will I be this time next year? Will I stick with even one of these resolutions? Will I post more than three times on this blog? Will anyone read those posts?

I'm thankful for new beginnings.

Bonne Année!

Memory troubles

I'm really trying to work hard on Scripture memory. Between age and learning a second language (which pushes out everything else you've ever learned), it's not easy. Fortunately, this weeks passage is Proverbs 3:5-6 -- a standard for our family. This gives me another week to work on last week's passage!

Seriously, God is blessing me as I reflect on these passages. These next weeks are busy with new personnel arriving, a visit from one of our IMB trustees, a training workshop in London, and reading for my spring seminars.

Lord, give me straight paths!

Application of yesterday's post

Because of the conviction associated with yesterday's post, I've added a weekly Bible memory passage from ESV to the right sidebar. To see the entire list of verses for the year, go here.

"The Armor of Light" and the New Year

I try not to make "resolutions." Last year, I sat down and wrote in my journal several things that I wanted to accomplish in 2006. They included reading the Bible through in French, prayerwalking every street in my city, translating a short book on French culture into English for my new colleagues, building our team, "praying continually," and reading a list of about a million books. I'll not say what I accomplished and what I didn't, though I got further than I thought I would.

This year, I'm keeping it simple. One thing (though this one thing entails much).

Yesterday, I read Romans 13:11-14 in my Daily Light:

And do this, knowing the time, that it is now high time
to awake out of sleep;
for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.
The night is far spent, the day is at hand.
Therefore, let us cast off the works of darkness,
and let us put on the armor of light.
Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness,
not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy.
But put on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.

One thing (among many) that struck me is the idea of the "armor of light." This is a battle I must fight. "Putting off darkness" is not simply a matter of asking forgiveness and promising God to do better. I must arm myself with the Light of Christ to repel the "desires of a man delivered to himself," as the French Semeur translation puts it.

My desire for 2007 is put off darkness and put on light. My spiritual practices have suffered in the last six months. If I failed to be all that God wanted of me last year, if I failed to accomplish all that I wanted to accomplish, it's because I've not "walked properly." I want 2007 to be different. My first feeble start is re-reading Donald Whitney's Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life. It's my favorite reminder of how to "discipline myself for the purpose of godliness" (1 Timothy 4:7).

Jesus came as light. He called me to be light. I will put on light.