A too familiar aspect of this new year can be summed up in the word "crisis". Politics, economics, industry, jobs, environment, international relations, all these and more face us in this crisis ridden time. Crisis erodes our resolve as it undermines our confidence. The hope of the new year is compromised even before it arrives.
In a Roman jail Paul of Tarsus wrote of his crisis to friends in Philippi. The immediate future was fraught with difficulty and trial. He felt he could as easily embrace death as continue his struggle to serve and live.
"For me, to live is Christ . . . " (Phil 1:21). That reality cast the decision for Paul. He would continue. That decision challenges us today as well. The crisis we face is different, but it contains the same personal dilemmas. And our response must be like Paul's: "To live is Christ."
We do not face or crisis with fatalistic resolve, but as servants of the living God. The effectiveness of our response to crisis is limited only by our confidence in the power of Christ to change lives, to change the world. Even in 2009, "to live is Christ."
Starting Up . . . Again
13 years ago