Coffee With The Lord

It’s January 1 – 2021 has dawned… A new year! New challenges! New opportunities! Who knows what the new year will bring! Just some of the thoughts that ran through my mind as I celebrated “Coffee with the Lord” this morning.

My Bible reading for today, January 1, using the “Necessary Food” Bible reading plan included: Genesis 1:1 – 2:3; Job 1:1-5; Isaiah 1:1-31; Matthew 1:1-17; and Romans 1:1-7).

The introductory passage in Job especially impressed me today… you need to read it! I trust and pray that during the coming year I, by the grace of God, will exhibit the same godly character as Job (regardless of what life brings – and that’s the message of Job)!

1. A life that is “blameless” – Job lived above accusation!

2. Job was “upright” – what he was in behavior and lifestyle flowed from inner righteousness and integrity.

3. He reverenced (or “feared”) the Lord!

4. He avoided anything that was evil – He “turned away from evil” – in other words he was scrupulously righteous.

5. His lifestyle was made even more remarkable and attractive because he enjoyed God’s favor and blessing (He was the greatest of all the people of the east”).

6. He was a spiritual leader at home, exhibiting an ongoing concern for the spiritual welfare of his family.

What a man! I desire to live that kind of life in the coming year (and beyond)! Oh Lord, help me!!

Jokes and humorous (or perhaps not so humorous) observations abound about the discomfort and difficulties of 2020… and here we are today, it is December 31, the last day of this painful and problem-filled year!  People are hoping desperately that 2021 will truly usher in a “NEW YEAR!” 

Listening to the forecasters it’s clear they are “hedging their bets” on that happening!  In fact, some very high-ranking authorities are urging caution… its like they’re saying, “don’t get your hopes up – yet!

But that won’t stop people from saying it – “Happy New Year!” – with optimism (albeit with fingers crossed).

But based upon my Bible reading this morning at the close of 2020, our hopes and wishes for a “New Year” in 2021 – our desire to leave the pain and discomfort of 2020 behind for the prospects of 2021 – aren’t worth comparing to what will transpire when the Lord comes and makes “ALL THINGS NEW!  That will be a “New Year” (no, more than that – a “New Forever!”) “on steroids!”

Here is the declaration right out of the Bible: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more!  And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God… And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold the dwelling place of God is with man He will dwell with them, and they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God.  He will wipe away every tear from their eyes and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, no crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away!’  And He who was seated on the throne [God Himself] said ‘BEHOLD, I AM MAKING ALL THINGS NEW!” (From Revelation 21:1-5)

Read the whole account of it in Revelation 20:11 – 22:21 for yourself – it’s a great, uplifting read at the end of this year!  Heaven!  A prepared place for a prepared people – people who have been “born again,” people who “overcome,” people who have their name “in the Lamb’s book of Life, Jesus followers, righteous people!  On the other hand, those who reject Christ, and live self-willed, rebellious lives are excluded and face a frightening eternity.

Listen, I’m as ready for the pain and problems of 2020 to pass as you are… I’ll admit it – because of the hope I have in Christ, I’m ready for 2021 to come – I think the future is bright!  You can say “Happy New Year” to me hopefully if you want to… but if you really want to make my day, remind me of my future as a Christian… tell me “Happy Forever!” – “all things new!”

Many of you are aware of the Facebook group I host entitled “Coffee with the Lord” (it is also available as a WordPress blog – coffeewiththelord.com, and on Twitter @coffeewithlord). In the past “Coffee with the Lord” has largely featured almost daily devotional reflections from my Bible reading.

With the release and revision, however, of my daily Bible reading plan, “Necessary Food,” I have felt led (and have been encouraged) to devote “Coffee with the Lord” almost exclusively to my devotional reflections on selected passages from the “Necessary Food” Bible reading plan.

The result will be a kind of marriage between “Coffee with the Lord” and the “Necessary Food” Bible reading plan. I think that you that are using the Bible reading plan may find this very helpful and uplifting. Be watching for it beginning January 1 2021. Not every passage from the five daily Bible reading will be featured but at least one will.

If you have not gotten your free pdf copy of the revised “Necessary Food” Bible reading plan yet, do not hesitate to request one via e-mail (leroybartel@gmail.com).