“Better is the end of a thing than its beginning, and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.” Ecclesiastes 7:8

Dear Elim Grace, significant endings often reveal the true spiritual state of our hearts — what we truly trust in, what truly gives us hope, and what we truly treasure.

So as this year ends, what can it reveal to you and I about our heart? Our trusts, hopes, and treasures? Here at the end/beginning of a year, I encourage you to:

1. Keep the joy of discovery. What new thing did you try in 2024? What new thing did you discover in the “old”? Have you kayaked for years but still discovered new joys on the water this year?  I discovered a lot of new music this year, thanks to all my children. As a musician and someone who loves music, if I ever lose the joy of discovering new music, my heart will have grown old. The joy of discovery is always new. In the same way, in our following Jesus, to try something new is a mark of childhood-like faith, not childishness. Faith tries. Jumps in. Dashes in. Wades in.

2. Have your iPhone on your body less, especially at home. Our iPhone goes everywhere we go. There’s a “weight” when you carry it. A “pressure”. And for many of us, without thinking, we keep our iPhone on our body when we enter our homes. It restricts our ability and willingness to focus, to rest, to play, to be present. No one in the 90’s would have been allowed to bring their cordless phone, tv, vcr, Walkman/cd player, and computer all to their work or school desk with them. But we do it now wherever we go. We learn to carry things in life. Now we have to learn to un-carry things. It’s no longer as easy putting your phone down; we have to habitually learn to un-carry it!

3. Have the hard conversations. We all had hard conversations in 2024, either on the giving or receiving end of them. And this new year will be no different. Good, healthy and thriving relationships depend on our willingness to have hard conversations and on our ability to have them well. If the downside is something you’re not willing to live with, then you need to have that conversation. But first, consider your motive. Consider your words Ahead of time (I wouldn’t advise leaving your words to the spontaneity of the moment or your eloquence). Consider your goal. Then, pray and leave the results to the Holy Spirit.

4. Be patient. Patience is always at the finish line, pride never is. Patience sticks it out, pride tries to stand out. Patience understands the long road ahead, pride out lifts and out runs its own capacity. On the one hand, salvation and freedom are instantaneous. On the other, a long and lifetime obedience in the same direction. You either drift away from Christ or grow up in Christ short distances over long periods of time, not long distances over short periods of time. Patience is not passively waiting, but seeking through waiting. In a weightlifting session, if time is short, the temptation is to make big jumps in weight. But big jumps usually means you lift less weight in the end. Whereas, small jumps means in weight means you can lift more in the end. Why? Because your body adapts and your muscles warm up with time. So discipleship and growing big in Christ involves seeking through waiting, making small jumps. Not doing all the needed things at once, but doing the next needed thing. Not preaching to 1000 people at first, but to 1. Not giving $10,000 to our capital campaign, but $10. Not writing a 1,000 page book our of the gate, but learning to write a 500 word essay well over and over. 

5. Do for one what you wish you could for all. The Bible is very clear that the orphan, the widow, the defenseless, the lonely, the lost, the hurting, the sick, the grieving, the stranger are close to God’s heart. This speaks to compassion being a part of the character of God, and something He loves, and something he seeks to reflect in us His people. So what are you compassionate about? Who are you compassionate towards? A lack of a compassion is a problem of the heart. But compassion in the heart is an answer to someone’s problem. And if a problem is worth solving, it’s worth solving for one. 

6. Let Jesus challenge you. If Jesus never challenges you, you are likely not growing in relationship with Him. Holiness is the beauty of a transformed life, of a life BEING transformed. Being transformed is the process of being CONFORMED through being CONFRONTED. Jesus wants to do MORE in your life, which means confronting and convicting you about things in your heart you don’t see! Trust me, Jesus will offend you with the truth about your heart. But, as Proverbs teaches us, the fool tries to adjust the truth so he does not have to adjust to it. Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. If you are on the Way, you will came face to face with the Truth, but if you adjust and surrender to the Truth, you will know and receive the Life.

7. Stay spiritually disciplined no mater what. Read your Bible no matter what. Pray no matter what. Repent no matter what. Worship no matter what. Some of you are undergoing trials and troubles in your personal life or marriage or family. Yet, you never sing to Jesus, never lift your hands in worship to Him, never close your eyes to mediate on and adore Him…and your marriage and family is not healthy. If love for Jesus doesn’t compel you to stay spiritually disciplined, if love for family doesn’t compel you to stay disciplined, then what are you doing to change your heart? To save your marriage? To fight for your family? I’ve determined that every time my grandson (and all my future grandchildren!) enters my home, I will hug or kiss him. This will build love and affection in me, but my grandchildren will grow up knowing that their grandfather notices, cares for and loves them. When I watch my kids play or read or rest, I pray for them. When I see my wife working reading, I pray for her. This build up my praying life, but also blesses them. Determine simple ways in your daily life where you’ll exercise the spiritual habit of prayer or worship or confession. All the spiritual disciples are simple. They’re not easy, but they are simple.

8. Operate in the gifts of the Spirit. If you want to operate in the gifts of the Spirit, you have to (a) serve and be submitted to a local body (b) study and cultivate the gift you desire and (c) say Yes to the opportunities the local body and the disciplined gift make room for. If you claim to have a spiritual gift but are not in ongoing committed fellowship in a local body/church, I don’t care much for your gift. Proverbs 18:6 says, “A man’s gift makes room for him…” The way a gift makes room for you is in/through both the multiple witness/confirmation of those in your local body and the consistent fruit/proof that your gift “works”. Additionally, hidden in what Proverbs 18:6 is that a gift that works also works in you! It enlarges you! It enlarges your heart and love for Christ, His church and those He’s called you to serve and build up. A gift of the Spirit genuinely operating in your life will always enlarge the fruit of the Spirit in your life. In fact, the gifts operate best and most fully, where the fruit grows best and most fully. So, where there is a supposed gift, there should be the obvious fruit of the Spirit of Christ Jesus.

9. Attend faithfully and faithfully attend. Attend 3-4 weeks out of the month. This is what I mean by “attend faithfully”. But when you attend, faithfully attend. Be present. Serve. Invest. Either you see the local body as the body you are a member of and receive life from and give life to, or you see it as something you can plug into/unplug from whenever you want/need. The Biblical image for the church is not a power box or an outlets you plug into. It’s a vine, a body, a living organism, that if separated from, you wither and die. 

10. Seek healing. Healing occurs where the trauma occurred. In general, if trauma occurred in an unhealthy marriage, healing will come in a healthy marriage. If trauma occurred in an unhealthy family, healing occurs in a healthy family. If trauma occurred in an unhealthy church, healing occurs in a healthy church. “The wound is where the lights shines through.” If you continually keep the wound covered in the dark, it won’t breathe/absorb/receive what it needs. You have to be willing to deal with hurt and pain and brokenness in your life, not by exposing it to more of what is unhealthy but to more of what is healthy. The Spirit knows the depths of the heart of God and the depths of your inner being. He can bridge the divide. Seek healthy counsel, a healthy mentor, an Elim Grace Celebrate Recovery group. And, remember, growing a big people in Christ means through your healing others are healed. Through your comfort others are comforted. Jesus declared “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Mark 2:17) It is God in Jesus Christ “who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases” (Psalm 13:5).

11. BONUS: Seek the power of God. Acts 26:8 “Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead?” The implication of Paul’s question is that if God raised Christ from the dead, then all things are possible for God! Dear Elim Grace, if God raised Christ from the dead and with Him and through Him ushered in the salvation and kingdom of God, the beginning of a new heaven and earth; if God, in raising Christ from the dead, defeated all earthly and heavenly powers, destroying sin and death; then why can’t God speak today? Heal today? Deliver today? Rescue today? If all we seek, and all we believe God is able to do, is “good works” of mercy and compassion, then we empty our good works of the power of the gospel. For Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil. Jesus came to build His church. Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. Jesus came to set the captives free and to heal the brokenhearted. Jesus came to lead His people and to equip and empower  them for greater works. I believe God can change systems in this state as much as I believe he can heal lives of the deepest and longest hurts, hang-ups and habits imprisoning a person’s heart. I believe He can speak a personal prophetic word of “upbuilding and encouragement and consolation” to you, as well as a word of correction and conviction of sin through His Word by His Spirit. I believe we can see Jesus perform signs and wonders, as well as set the lonely foster boy and girl in a healthy home. I believe we can see Jesus set the demonically afflicted, oppressed and possessed free, as well as provide $3.5 million for a building expansion. All things are possible. “I believe, help my unbelief!”

There will be necessary endings in your life in this new year…if you want to grow BIG in Christ. Yet, for every ending there is grace. Grace is short form for the Holy Spirit living in you, bringing to you all the treasures found in Christ. So for every end (and every beginning), you need a fresh deposit of the Spirit, of  “Christ who lives in me”. If you can trust Jesus, you can trust His Spirit. He is our great Helper, so let’s ask Him today for whatever it is He desires to give us. Let’s trust Him. 

“Better is the end of a thing than its beginning”. The end of 2024 is more important than the beginning of 2025, if you end it with Jesus.

Pastor Jonathan