Last year my key verse was Psalm 1:2, which reads “but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on His law day and night.” The reason I chose this verse was because I felt that I did not read the Word nearly as much as I should have, and I wanted to use this verse as inspiration to read the Bible more. Unlike most years, I actually followed my key verse, as I did spend more time reading the Bible. I finally after many years finished reading the Old Testament. I’m thankful to God that I was able to read more of His Word last year. I’m also thankful that God carried me through the school year, as classes are getting more and more difficult.
I’ve been blessed this past year to serve God in many different ways, especially as a leader for YDJ. When Abe Lee left, I found that I suddenly have had a lot more responsibility on my shoulders. While it definitely has been stressful, I am learning a lot about leadership and teamwork.
Of course, as in every year, there were struggles along with the successes. While I did read the Bible more, and I have been serving the church in many ways, I found that I’ve been compromising with sin. It felt like sin was causing me to have a half-hearted relationship with God. Obviously, sin displeases God, but often times I put my own pleasure above God’s. This was holding me back from having a deep relationship with God, and I knew it. However, sini is never easy to get rid of, as we all know.
This year, I want to change my attitude towards sin. While I’ve always known that it is bad, I want to fully wage war against sin. I decided to choose Hebrews 12:1-2a as my key verse for 2015. This was the key verse for YDJ in the past semester, but I think I really need to set it as my personal key verse for 2015. It reads, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.” Paul talks more about Jesus in later verses and how He endured the cross, scorning its shame. We should consider Him who endured such opposition so that we don’t grow weary and lose heart.
I believe that the easiest way to fail at beating sin is to try and fight it. It sounds contradictory, but I know it’s true from experience. Now obviously, if you just give up and let yourself keep on sinning, that’s no good either. What I am saying is that if I try to fight sin on my own, I may win every now and then, but often times, I fail.
The key to beating sin is your focus. If you focus too much on sin, it will consume you. However, the writer of Hebrews tells us to fix our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. I also like how Hebrews compares it to a race. If I am running a race, where I place my focus matters a lot to my success. If I focus on trying to beat the other racers, or if I am unfocused due to distractions, I will have a very hard time winning the race. Alternatively, if I focus on the prize and the goal, then I can run the race effectively. As Hebrews says, it takes perseverance. There are many distractions around me, so I have to put effort to focus on Jesus. However, I should take comfort in knowing that He has already defeated sin and death. I pray that this year I would fix my eyes on Jesus and throw off everything that hinders me.
-Smart
Congrats on finishing the Old Testament!
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