Ready or Not ... 2017

By David Bragg

    Can you believe another year is in the books? Time marches relentlessly onward without asking for either our consent or approval. 2016 isn’t even cold yet and 2017 is already three days old. Nothing you and I can do will ever get that time back. With each passing day we creep closer towards time's end. But, as always, with Jesus there is good news.
    2017 will bring with it days of defeat and success.
    2017 will bring with it both sadness and great joy.
    2017 will bring days of suffering balanced with days of healing.
    2017 will bring with it days of loss and others of enrichment.
    For some 2017 will bring with it a day of finality.
    But there will not be a single day in 2017 that you will have to encounter alone! We have One who can lift us up from defeat, comfort us in sadness and sustain us through suffering. There is One who can truly place momentary loss into eternal perspective. And not to be forgotten, we have each other, charged with the duty of sharing in life's highs and lows (Romans 12:12-15) and with bearing “one another’s burdens" (Galatians 6:2).
    While we are powerless to keep time from sifting through our lives like sand through our fingers, we can do something about how we spend it. While much time will fall wasted at the feet of humanity, as a follower of Christ you can use your time to God's glory and time will ultimately deposit you in His timeless glory.

 - David Bragg serves as one of the ministers at the Northwest Church of Christ in Greensboro, NC and is co-editor of BulletinGold. He may be contacted through the congregation's website.