Greetings in the name of Jesus!

We have entered a new year and Jesus is still Lord of all!  I want to share a few thoughts with you today about this New Year and the challenge we face as followers of Jesus Christ.

The world we live in is a divided world; culturally, politically, racially.  But Jesus prayed for His church to be one; to be united in Him.  We have just emerged from a political season in America where the evidence of division is overwhelming.  We are witnessing this every day.

How does the Church of Jesus Christ respond and manifest the love of Christ in this setting?  Recently I was impressed with a passage from the New Testament letter of James.  Listen to what it says:  “What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you?  Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?  You desire and do not have, so you murder.  You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel.  You do not have, because you do not ask.  You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions…He gives grace to the humble.  Submit yourselves therefore to God!  Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.  Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.  Cleanse your hands…purify your hearts…Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you…Do not speak evil against one another, brothers….” (from James 4)

Those are some powerful challenges for us in 2025.  We are being watched closely by the world around us.  People know you are a follower of Jesus Christ and they watch to see how you act towards others, how you speak about even your enemies, how you reach out to those you disagree with.  People are watching!  God is watching!

I preached this Sunday from 1 Corinthians 13 and we talked about love.  Let me refresh your mind and heart on the Word of God.  “Love is patient and kind, love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude.  It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.  Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends…So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” (ESV)

My challenge for us, as the Church of Jesus Christ in the Chesapeake-Delaware-Potomac District of the Church of God is to recommit our lives to living in the love of Jesus…that we recommit our attitudes toward those who may not like us, who may disagree with us…that our attitude in 2025 may be one of humility, grace, and the love of Jesus.  May those we interact with in the workplace, in our neighborhoods, in our families, in our community…may they look at us and see the love of Jesus Christ!

What a difference loving like Jesus can make in our world!  I am reminded of a phrase in a gospel song… “loving God and loving each other…” (William J. Gaither). This must be our witness to the world around us.

Let’s commit and submit to the work of the Spirit of God in us!

Amen.

Pastor Jeff Tomlinson