Living for Christ is not just for special occasions

It doesn’t have to be that way.

For some people, this past week’s discarded gift boxes and wrinkled wrapping paper are sadly symbolic. Another Christmas and its magic have come and gone. The season’s peaceful optimism now gives way to another year of business as usual – another year of just getting by.

It doesn’t have to be that way.

In fact, for Christians, it shouldn’t be that way. We have just remembered a blessed truth that is operative all year long and is intensely practical. The transforming truth of the Gospel knows no calendar. What a blessing it will be in the new year if we resolve to live according to the truth we have just celebrated!

Christ came to save sinners, giving a living hope to the hopeless. Placing our trust in him ignites in us a radically different way of living. This new life transcends time and circumstances.

Jesus said to the churches in Asia, “Behold, I make all things new” (Revelation 21:5). Certainly he spoke of our hope of heaven, but also of the new life we have when we accept him as our savior: “… Even so we should walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4).

The apostle Paul paints a beautiful portrait of this new life in his first letter to the Thessalonians. Like us, the believers in Thessalonica faced tough times and had questions about God’s mysterious ways. Yet they were examples of the enduring faith, love and hope of the Gospel.

Paul commended the Thessalonians for their “work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope” (1 Thessalonians 1:3). The practical expression of these three virtues – faith, love and hope – made those believers an example of Christianity in their world.

These same virtues serve well today. They demonstrate to those around us that the message of Christmas – Christ’s coming – is not something to be observed once a year, but lived daily.

Tonight, we mark the end of one year and the beginning of a new one. It is a wonderful time to resolve to let faith, love and hope be our watchwords in 2006.

Faith is a tangible trust in Christ, not merely a mental agreement that he is our savior. The Bible tells us that one who trusts in him follows him; his priorities become ours.

It’s no wonder that Paul commended the Thessalonians for their work of faith. Theirs was a visible faith – it shined as an example to other believers. Genuine faith works, and those good works express the hands and heart of Christ to other people.

James, another apostle, went so far as to insist that “faith without works is dead” (James 2:20). “Suppose you see a brother or sister who needs food or clothing, and you say, ‘Well, good-bye and God bless you; stay warm and eat well’ – but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do? So you see, it isn’t enough just to have faith. Faith that doesn’t show itself by good deeds is no faith at all” (James 2:15-17 – NLT).

Giving our time, money and skills to those in need – acts so prevalent at Christmastime – should be a year-round expression of our faith.

Let us resolve in the coming year to serve the Lord faithfully by serving others. The needs of others do not wait for special occasions, nor should the good works of believers motivated by Christ to meet those needs.

It’s instructive that Paul praised the Thessalonians for their labor of love. Worldly love is fickle and conditional, motivated by warm feelings. How easy it is to love those who are lovely and will love us back.

Christian love, however, requires effort. It is unconditional and expressed irrespective of feelings, regardless of the recipient’s worthiness. It’s a love that puts up with others’ shortcomings graciously, is not self-centered, and is courteous and not easily provoked toward anger or rudeness (1 Corinthians 13:4-7).

Hope grows in the soil of faith and love. Genuine hope – produced by faith in the love of God – empowers us to live with patient endurance, encouraging others to do the same. Hope is seen on the faces of those blessed by our giving, or our gracious words and deliberate kindnesses.

We keep the spirit of Christmas alive all year when we resolve to strengthen our faith by following Christ more closely, express his love to those in need with no strings attached, and live with a contagious hope that cannot be rattled by circumstances.

When our resolve is anchored to our savior, he enables us to live in faith, love and hope.

So many New Year’s resolutions get abandoned soon after they’re made. Like the spent trappings of Christmas, they are forgotten.

But, you know, it doesn’t have to be that way.