The Time We Have Left Is Important

Now that Christmas is over we've got a new year just around the corner. As a younger guy, New Years Day was a bonus holiday tucked close into Christmas. But as I get older, each turn of the page over to a new year brings with it a greater realization that the time I have left is important.

So I’ve been thinking more seriously about my New Years resolutions. While losing a few pounds will likely make my short list, along with a Bible reading goal, I’ve been looking to add a book study I can do with my wife.

Resolve To Do Something Significant

I was reading through Psalm 71 a week or so ago, when I found a kind of New Years resolution I thought I would pass along. The anonymous writer of the psalm begins by speaking a prayer of faith toward God in the midst of his troubles, saying, “In you, O Lord, do I take refuge.” We learn from verse 9 that he is an older man who is both reflecting on his past life and resolving to do something important before he passes.

Proclaim God's Might To Another Generation

His resolution, offered as a prayerful request to God, is found in verse 18. He says, “So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come.”  It is interesting to note that after a long life of serving God, what is most important to the writer of Psalm 71 to accomplish is to pass on his knowledge of God’s wondrous deeds to the next generation. While this man’s desire has nothing to do with New Years, God saw fit to immortalize his resolution on the pages of Scripture, which makes it important for us to think about.   

Your Resolutions

As you plan your New Year’s resolutions, whether you are twenty or eighty, take a pointer from the words of Psalm 71 and ask the question, “How am I planning on passing the gospel to the next generation?” For some, the context is obvious; parents are called to disciple their children, grandparents their grandchildren. But for others – singles and young married couples without children, you too should plan on sharing the truth God has given you to the next generation. You could serve your younger siblings or join your church’s ministry to children.

So, go ahead and resolve to lose a few pounds, and schedule in a Bible reading plan. But in addition to those time tested resolutions, consider how too might pass along the wondrous deeds of the Lord to the next generation; his power to those who have come after us.

Consider joining us May 25-28 in Orlando, FL for Transfer, a four-day gathering hosted by the churches of Sovereign Grace Ministries to celebrate and proclaim those biblical truths that are most important to pass on from one generation to the next. 

* This post originally appeared on the “Further In” blog of Covenant Fellowship Church.

Marty Machowski leads the children's and youth ministries at Covenant Fellowship Church and is the author of The Gospel Story Bible, Long Story Short: Ten-Minute Devotions to Draw Your Family to God, and Old Story New: Ten-Minute Devotions to Draw Your Family To God. He received a Bachelor of Science in industrial design from the Philadelphia College of Art. Marty resides in West Chester, PA, with his wife, Lois, and their six children.