Prophets, fools and followers

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Those who predict the future tend to be prophets or fools.

I’m no prophet, so you can infer which category I fit into. Anyway, here are my bold predictions for the new year:

* Renewed Israeli-Palestinian peace talks will stall. It happens every year.

* The economy will recover. Or not.

* Fifty-nine countries will hold local, regional or national elections. Some of these contests will be honest.

* A Democrat or Republican definitely will be elected president in November, unless an independent or third-party candidate wins.

* Baby boomers will get even older and achier. I’m personally helping this prediction come true.

* The world will not end in December. If it does, it won’t have anything to do with the Mayan calendar.

Obvious, you say? Hey, expertise is overrated. The international intelligence community, with its megabillion-dollar budgets, failed to anticipate the Arab Spring — the most significant political development of 2011. I’m willing to provide uninformed forecasts for a mere fraction of that price.

OK, I don’t know much about the future. But I do know a few things that could happen in 2012 — if you help make them happen:

* Someone who has no clue about God, no hope, perhaps no desire to continue living, will decide to follow Christ and go on to change the world.

“The next Jonathan Edwards might be the man driving in front of you with the Darwin Fish bumper decal,” observes author and theologian Russell Moore. “The next Charles Wesley might be a misogynist, profanity-spewing hip-hop artist right now. The next Billy Graham might be passed out drunk in a fraternity house right now. The next Charles Spurgeon might be making posters for a gay pride march right now. The next Mother Teresa might be managing an abortion clinic right now.”

Is that person in your life? What will you do this year to show him or her the love of Christ?

* A comfortable, self-centered church will begin to love and minister to the hurting people all around it.

Will you be the person who helps turn the lukewarm heart of that church toward the burning heart of God?

* A people group somewhere in the world with no believers, no church, no Bible, no connection whatsoever to the Gospel — and no one doing anything about it — will begin to hear about Jesus Christ for the first time.

Are you the person God is calling to start that history-changing process? Is your church, regardless of its size or budget, the mission team He has appointed to take on the challenge? Find out more at call2embrace.org.

In Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come shows old Scrooge fearful things — the needless death of Tiny Tim, bleak darkness, Scrooge’s own forgotten tombstone.

“Good spirit,” Scrooge cries, falling before the silent ghost. “Your nature intercedes for me, and pities me. Assure me that I yet may change these shadows you have shown me, by an altered life!”

Most of us change little from year to year because we don’t really believe, deep down, that personal change is possible. The same roadblocks tend to trip us every time, according to pastor Perry Noble: procrastination, past failures, fear of taking a step of faith, fear of what others will think, not believing God is who He says He is, not believing God wants to use us, concern about things of no eternal significance.

If you know Christ and stumble every year over these issues, Noble says, “You do not understand the fact that God’s Holy Spirit lives inside of you and has gifted you and is calling you to do something greater than you could ever imagine.”

Why not answer that call in 2012?

Resolved: Make better resolutions

Listen to an audio version of this post at http://media1.imbresources.org/files/121/12190/12190-67907.mp3

A week into the new year, I’ve already failed to make it to the gym five days out of five.

Hey, at least I’m consistent.

Why do so many people struggle with keeping New Year’s resolutions? Too often, the whole exercise depressingly highlights our lack of discipline and commitment, not our desire to improve or achieve new goals.

You’re setting yourself up for failure every year, resolution scoffers say. They’ve got a point. You pick a date on the calendar — in the dead of winter, no less, for folks in the Northern Hemisphere — to become a better person and do better things. Not gonna happen. Spring, nature’s time for new beginnings, gives you a better shot at success — unless you have allergies.

More than 90 million American adults planned to make New Year’s resolutions for 2011, according to the Barna Group, a Christian research organization. Their aspirations fall into predictable categories: weight loss, financial advance, quitting various addictions, self-improvement.

But only 23 percent of Americans who made resolutions last year reported any “significant, long-term change” in their daily lives — and some of them are probably fibbing. More than 70 percent said they experienced “minor change” or “no change.”

“Americans maintain a love-hate relationship with New Year’s resolutions: Millions of people make them, but they rarely report success as a result,” said David Kinnaman, Barna Group president. “Maybe most problematic, Americans hinge their efforts at personal change by focusing on themselves, rather than realizing that lasting change often comes by serving and sacrificing for others.”

But there’s a bright spot in the Barna survey results:

“Perhaps less affected by past failed resolutions, younger adults emerged as far more likely than older adults to make personal commitments for the new year.”

Thank God for youth! Hope springs eternal for those unfazed by the ravages of time and regret. Regardless of your age or track record, however, I challenge you to make at least one new commitment (or recommitment) in 2011. One thing is certain: If you aim at nothing, you will accomplish just that.

A few tips:

* Set a goal to serve God and others, not yourself.

* Involve others — to serve with you and to keep you accountable. Kinnaman: “Churches and faith communities have a significant opportunity to help people identify what makes for transformational change and how to best achieve those objectives — especially by relying on goals and resources beyond their individualism.”

* Above all, ask God for guidance and inspiration. He is the Lord of new beginnings:

The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease,
For His compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I have hope in Him.” (Lamentations 3:22-24, NASB)

His mercies are new every morning, not just every year. He is a far better “life coach” than all the self-improvement gurus trying to sell you their can’t-miss programs.

Great resolutions respond to God’s purposes, not our narrow priorities. Jesus got to the heart of the matter when He summarized the Law and the Prophets: “‘… You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’” (Matthew 22:37-39, NASB).

In John 21:22, Jesus told Peter, “Follow Me!” He told His followers to make disciples among all peoples (Matthew 28:19).

Do your goals relate in vital ways to those commands? If not, are they really worth pursuing?