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Some of you have already made your New Year’s Resolutions for 2014. That’s good. So have I. It is important, periodically, to take stock of one’s life and to set some new goals. Goals make one’s life meaningful. To have something to reach for is makes the journey worthwhile. It makes what we do rewarding. It adds zest to life.
As you think about the New Year, with your resolutions or goals in mind, I want to offer some things to consider for charting your course from a spiritual point of view.

First, I encourage you to take a fresh look at the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Read the gospels. Read some books on the life and teaching of Jesus. As you do so, consider how you might mold your own life after His. For example you might study the passage of scripture concerning His baptism. Here we find the inauguration of His mission in life. Here Jesus confirms his identity and sets the direction for the remainder of his life on earth.

What is your personal identity – your calling? What are you all about – your mission? Where are you headed in your Christian life? What are your goals to perform that mission? What will you do in 2014 to accomplish your goals?

The second thing to consider from a spiritual standpoint is: Identify the essential challenge of your life. The basic challenge in one’s life should be to identify life’s meaning and direction. Again, where are you headed with your life?

I remember watching television one Saturday morning with my children while attending graduate school. The particular cartoon that was on was of the Scooby Dooby Doo character and his friends. One scene in the cartoon was of the characters running, all being chased by the bad guys. Scooby yelled out, “We don’t know where we’re going but we’re on our way”! So many people go thru life with no real direction. Life has no real eternal or rewarding purpose – year after year – week after week – day after day. The occasion of Jesus’ baptism was a turn toward a future with a mission.

The challenge of human existence is to put life into a service of some larger purpose – a goal – a set of values – some important relationship. It’s the challenge to find cohesion – a gathering up of energy and sense and will around some center. This time of the year should be a time of facing forward to squarely set upon God’s purpose for your life.
There are, of course, other choices. You can live for material things or for power, for pleasure, for self-interest or perhaps for the expectation of people around you. However, none of these will gather up your life into a meaningful whole as a relationship with God will, with a purpose of serving Him in all you do.
Perhaps this in an invitation for you today to make the ultimate decision of your life – to decide what will reside at the center of your life.

The third thing I suggest for you to consider is: God can use you where you are in your life right now, as well as using you as you are in shaping your identity and future service for Him.

When Jesus called Philip and Nathanael to follow Him, Nathanael asked Philip, “can anything good come out of Nazareth?” In Mark’s account of Jesus’ baptism, he saw fit to note the fact that “Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee…” (Mark 1:9). There’s a lesson here for each of us, namely, to never underestimate what God can do with raw materials at his disposal, no matter who we are or where we come from. When you decide on a partnership with God, He might do something special with your life – and out of the very ordinary stuff of any ordinary person from any ordinary town or location.

Fourthly, it is important to note that the same power that was on Jesus can be upon your life! Note the words in Luke 3:16: “…He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. . . ” and in Acts 8:17: ” . . . they received the Holy Spirit.” All through the Bible, it is the Holy Spirit of God that works through His people who yield their lives to Him for service.
It is the same creative Spirit of God that moved over the waters in creation in Genesis 1:2 that works through ordinary followers of Jesus today.

All the early disciples were ordinary men – fishermen, businessmen, etc – and the women identified by Luke in His gospel and the book of Acts that were full of the Holy Spirit. All were ,completely committed to God and He, through the power of His Spirit, did mighty and wonderful deeds thru them.
The idea of the baptism in the Holy Spirit is not a complicated theology. It’s really very simple. The word, baptize, means to immerse. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God -or- the Spirit of Christ. In Romans 8:9 Paul refers to the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ. In II Corinthians 3:17 Paul says that the Lord (Jesus) is the Spirit.
In other words, Jesus = God (the Father) = The Spirit (Holy Spirit).
To be baptized in or with the Holy Spirit simply means to be totally yielded to God. It’s the same as being filled with the Holy Spirit. (Ephesians 5:18). To be filled and to be baptized with the Holy Spirit is really the same thing. If God is really to use you in 2014 and beyond, you must yield to Him, to His Spirit. For only His Spirit can do His work.

It is not always easy to go from Jordan to the wilderness, from high to low, from the sure to the uncertain. All of this contradicts the popular profit-motive religion that has prostituted Christianity, i.e. that Faith makes life easy and brings rich material rewards, was not the gospel of Jesus. Life is not always easy – even for the Christian. Legend tells us that all but one of the original apostles died a martyr’s death. Jesus, Himself, was crucified for His radical life and teaching.
Total faith in God does, however, make life bearable. Faith gives life true depth of meaning. Faith makes sense of living. And faith gives a personal integrity that no amount of earthly success can.

The gospel writer, Luke (Luke 3:23) reported that after Jesus’ baptism, he began His ministry. Have you begun your ministry? If not, I invite you today to commit yourself or rededicate yourself to be used of God in the New Year.

First, take a fresh look at Jesus – mold your life after His. Second, seek to identify your personal mission in life. How? By prayer – ask Him to reveal it to you. If you don’t know – I’ll tell you. Love the Lord Thy God with all your heart, soul, and mind; and love your neighbor as yourself. Any other will – or – mission will come as you do those two things – love God and love others.
Thirdly, allow God to use you as you are where you live. You don’t have to be an ordained missionary or receive any special training to serve God. God uses ordinary men and women just like you.

The preparation is simple. By being totally immersed or filled with His spirit – HIS Spirit – you can be of service to God. May God bless you as you yield to Him and allow Him to use you this year.