Thank God for guiding us through 2018. Time passes really quickly; the year begins again. Actually time hasn’t moved faster or slower; it has not changed ever. It is us who has changed.

Every year the flower blooms and the fragrance is the same. But Man changes. (sounds nicer in chinese)

Some people are no longer with us. For us, how many more years do we have?

What is the greatest ignorance in life? The speaker reckons it is Man thinking they still have a lot of time. This is the greatest ignorance because it causes a person to lose his precious soul.

There was a rich man who calculated his possessions. He was very satisfied and told his own soul, “You have riches to keep you for many years. O soul rest and enjoy!” But God called him a fool because his soul was required of him that night.

They have not thought about preparing for the salvation of their souls. They’ve just been just calculating. We hence must have the realisation that in our short lives, let’s not just busy ourselves with earning money; just ourselves preparing for the salvation of our souls.

Psa 39:4-6
“Lord, make me to know my end,
And what is the measure of my days,
That I may know how frail I am.
Indeed, You have made my days as handbreadths,
And my age is as nothing before You;
Certainly every man at his best state is but vapor.
Selah
Surely every man walks about like a shadow;
Surely they busy themselves in vain;
He heaps up riches,
And does not know who will gather them.

David prayed to God to let him know the measure of his days; to let him know his life was frail. So he would busy himself preparing for salvation and to meet God.

“handbreadths”
Some Chinese versions translate this to mean to be able to count on one hand. Man have 10 fingers. 1 finger represents 10 years. 10 fingers represents a full life of 100 years. Some people live to more than this years. But most people don’t. If we are more than 50 years old, we have already used one hand.

But we know when one year passes, we have one year less. As the flower withers, it’ll bloom again. But when Man grows old, he won’t become young again.

So we should consider: what are we busying our lives with now?

The busyness of Man is usually for riches. But this is like a shadow. You seem to have a lot but when death comes before you, what’s left? Isn’t it emptiness?

What are we waiting for? We have been waiting. Waiting for our children to grow up, our pension, for service to end to have supper lol. People wait for the sun to rise again.

The speaker recalls something his mum used to say. “Just like that. In the day you wait for the sun to set. In the night you wait for the sun to rise. Pray for me to bring me home earlier. God doesn’t listen to my prayer. You’re a preacher maybe He’ll listen to you.”
The speaker replied, “If God listened to me, I wouldn’t be here anymore too” LOL

But at the end what’s the result of our waiting? When some people do get what they’ve been waiting for, why is the joy not that much? Why does there still exist sorrow?

David tells us not to wait for anything in the world anymore. People of the world use riches and their children to be contented. David had much riches and children. But he wasn’t contented with all this. To him, waking and seeing God’s face is what would content him. He didn’t hope for anything in the world but in God.

If our hope is like David, we won’t just be busting ourselves earning money. We should drop and prepare properly for the salvation of our souls.

In the past year, where has our time? Before we can appreciate our youth, it’s gone. Before I can appreciate you, my eyes grow dim. In the twinkling of an eye, our face have wrinkles. Children become adults. Adults become elderly.

How much time do we have left? How’re we going to use this time?

Time is given to us freely. But the time given to us is limited. We can’t hold back time, only make use of it. Some make use of it to do good, some abused time for bad.

We can use time to earn more money. But we must know one thing. Greater riches won’t buy you more time. Once time is past, it won’t return. So we must cherish the time we have. If we have a lot of money, we would just buy and eat what we want. But if we don’t have a lot of money, we would be more careful how we spend it.

We may have money. But we don’t have a lot of time left. Cherish this time left. How should we make use of the time we have left before God?

Paul gives us some principles to guide our thinking.
Eph 5:15-17
Do we cherish/redeem time or waste it? In actuality, how much time do we have to waste? More importantly, have we lived according to our own will or the will of God? Have we walked as fools or as wise? Fools will not know how to redeem the time. In their days, they won’t consider why God has given them this time. They won’t use their time to pursue the spiritual. They’ll just use their time to indulge in desires and physical things. These fools are like people in the time of Noah who only cared about eating, being merry and marrying. Though God allowed them to see the ark, they didn’t believe in the judgement of God or that the ark wild save them. They mocked Noah and continued to live their indulgent lives. When the flood came, they knew they were wrong. They would’ve run to the ark with all their might, frantically knocking on the door for Noah to open it. But Noah couldn’t open it. Why? Because God had shut it. And who can open the door God had shut?

Jesus said, “As the times of Noah, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be.”

One taken one left behind.
They’re all people of God. Why one taken one left behind? Because God is unfair? Or because one is not prepared? So Jesus tells us to be vigilant and prepare ourselves, because we don’t know when the day of the Lord will come. Which is why the wise man will redeem time, and love according to the will of God in his days. He knows why God allows him to continue living; the true direction and purpose in his life. He cares not just for his own family but also for God’s family. Not living just for himself but for God. Such a life will allow a person to meet God without shame. Are we able to meet God without shame?

Luke 13:8-9
Jesus spoke the parable of the fig tree. It should be cut down because it had not borne fruit for three years. From the time a seed is sown to the time it becomes a tree would’ve required a lot of time and effort. When the tree is matured, it should be able to bear fruit. But it doesn’t. The owner gives it a chance to bear fruit but still it doesn’t bear. It gives another chance but still it doesn’t bear. Finally he cuts it down because the ground would be wasted. If not for the pleas and mercy, it would’ve been cut down earlier.
From this we can see the mercy of our God. Each year He waits for us. But year after year we disappoint God. He intercedes for us “let it alone for this year also. Hopefully it bears fruit. If not, then we’ll cut it down.” We thank God for His grace to be able to continue living, which is the greatest grace of God.

But many people don’t think it’s a great grace. We keep grumbling. Grumbling how small his car is, how slow his car is, how lonely he is, how many troubles he has. Until one day he died then he’ll appreciate life. All the aforementioned doesn’t matter because when you have life you have the opportunity to do something. Let’s not have this realisation only at death. Let’s realise it earlier that we may be blessed earlier.

God wants us to bear fruit. What kind? Most important is that of repentance.
Luke 13:4-5
After saying this about repentance then Jesus talked about the fig tree. Many fruits we think about is between Man, belonging to good works. But towards God, what God wants is our true repentance and truly returning to Him. God saved us to redeem us from our sins, because sinners can’t dwell in the Kingdom of God. Which is why Jesus uses His precious blood to redeem us from our sins so that we’ll preserve ourselves. But many Christians still live a life of sin. They know they’re wrong and have to repent. But don’t. What’s the use of wanting to repent and not repenting? Don’t just have a heart of repentance, we have to bear fruits worthy of repentance.
The axe is laid at the bottom of the tree. Whichever fruit doesn’t bear good fruit will be cut down.

Besides thanking God for His grace to continue to live, also thank Him for having mercy on us when we sin against Him. Not that He condones this sin, He gives us time to bear fruits of repentance.

In the past year, have we led good lives? Many people have led good lives, worthy of envy. But before God? There’s good and bad. Because towards God we will lack in some way. We have sinned against God. We cannot go back in the past to change our faults then. But God has given us a new year so we can start anew.

Psa 51:1-3
This is the repentance of David. He knew that he had fallen short and sinned before God. So he prayed that God would forgive him. But if this was all he did, do you think his sins would’ve been forgiven? We can all be like David to confess our sins before God. But we lack something very important.

v10-11
“Create in me a clean heart…and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”
David didn’t just confess his sins, he prayed to God to cleanse and renew him. He couldn’t continue using an unclean heart to cleanse himself. So he prayed to God to create a clean heart in him. This is what we need to pray to God for. Maybe our hearts are no longer clean in many matters. No one knows what’s in our hearts, what we think about and what we feel. But God does. Therefore let’s pray to God to create a clean heart in us and renew a steadfast spirit. If we don’t, God will take away the Holy Spirit from us. David feared this greatly (v11). Today many people treat the Holy Spirit with derision; not just with disbelief but also with mockery.

The Holy Spirit is Jesus coming into our hearts. People who understand the word and fear God know how important the Holy Spirit is. That’s why they’ll pray and ask God not to take away the Holy Spirit but repent and ask for a clean heart and new spirit. Today how many Christians are like David, fearing God and esteeming the Holy Spirit. He didn’t know it was a spirit of sonship, guarantee of inheritance, he just knew how important it was. Today many brothers and sisters who received the Holy Spirit

2018 is like a diary. It records our accomplishments and our joys. But it also records our regrets and mistakes. Maybe we don’t have the habit of writing a diary. We may have forgotten our mistakes. But God hasn’t, and has recorded everything down.

Rev 20
A vision of judgement. Before the judgment seat of God are two books. God judged according to what was written in these books. This shows what we’ve done is recorded. In the future we’ll be judged according to what’s written in the judgement book. The other book is in the book of life which will determine whether we can go to heaven. Even if our name is in the book of life, if our garments are dirty, our names will be blotter out. We need to be careful; we can’t escape the judgement of God. But we shouldn’t fail because God has given us a new year 2019. We can start on a new page. Let us not repeat our mistakes. We truly must repent and be like David to create a clean heart and steadfast spirit within us so we can once again be a good God fearing Christian.

When the birds grow tired of flying, they know it’s time to return. If they’re tired and don’t use their last reserves of strength to return home, they’ll die. The children of God have wandered outside for many years. Isn’t it time to come to the realisation to return home?

“Aren’t we in the house of God (church) now?”
Yes, but are we TRULY home? Do we really return home or are we back just as a guest?

Returning home was what David requested. To dwell in the house of the Lord his whole life.

2018 has ended. When reflecting and thinking back, there’re many weakness and occasions we fell short of God’s grace. But He has given us 2019 that we can start on a new page.

Let us pray for God to continue to guide and be with us every single day in 2019.