This was the final message in a series my congregational and I have been engaging since the first Sunday in 2008: Fresh Start–Finding Fitness in a New Year. This week, I tried to emphasize the fact that the primary thrust of this series boils down to stewardship: God has entrusted to us a life…a spiritual, intellectual, physical, financial, relational life…and we need to manage it in such a manner that it becomes an instrument of his praise. This is the path along which we are most likely to find blessing, not only for ourselves but also for others.
I then proceeded to identify some of the key relationships of which we need to be good stewards: our relationships with those who are most important to us, our relationships with our brothers and sisters in Christ, our relationships with people we don’t know, and–of course–our relationship with God.
On this last point, however, I felt it important to remind my congregation (and maybe myself) that when it comes to our relationship with God, our stewardship can only go so far. Ultimately, our relationship with God is established and sustained–not by any action or effort of our own–but by the unending grace of God that comes to us in Christ.
May you discover that grace in your life whenever you feel a need for a “fresh start.”
Fresh Start: Relational Fitness in a New Year
