While visiting the East campus of our new church a few weeks ago I met a sweet lady named Vickie.  As we were introducing ourselves it came up in conversation that she was once a personnel manager at a particular business establishment.  We began discussing her past responsibilities as she began reciting a long list of things and eventually ended with…… “basically any and everything,” to which we both laughed.  One of the things we discussed was the end-of-the-year inventory that was inevitably looming over their heads.  Every company must undergo this process in some way.  The end or beginning of every year leaves most businesses reconciling the products they have left on hand and comparing it to current sales records.  These records reveal gains or losses.  To someone who has made a good projection, this is a rewarding experience.  To someone who haphazardly planned, this can be a grueling process.  It’s at that moment you are forced to stand accountable for purchases made and an inability to move the product.  By this point, you have probably lost money and you’re forced to sell the leftover product at a fraction of the price to get rid of it—if you can move it at all.  Just as in life, to every action there is a reaction.  Every movement will knock the metaphorical domino in one direction or another thus causing a chain reaction.  For every decision, there are consequences-good or bad.  What does your personal inventory of 2017 reveal to you?

Jonah 1 finds none other than Jonah himself running from what God had instructed him to do.  God’s intentions were for Jonah to go to Nineveh and announce His pending judgment on the people of that great city.  Rather than doing so, Jonah threw on his running shoes and went in the (literal) opposite direction of what he had been told.  His blatant disobedience led him aboard a ship that ended up in the middle of the storm that threatened the lives of all onboard.  Knowing his presence was the reason for the storm, he encouraged the men to throw him overboard, which they eventually did.  Verse 17 reveals, “Now the Lord had arranged for a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was inside the fish for three days and three nights.”  Not my idea of an enjoyable spa visit with, no doubt, a seaweed wrap included free of charge.  Jonah’s bad decisions left him suffering consequences that could have been avoided had he followed God’s directives.  Some things happen to us in life that are beyond our control.  I believe it’s a safe assumption that much of the outcome of our lives is based on our decisions and choices, good or bad.  We stand at the brink of a fresh start.  Your habits and decisions will have a direct impact on the outcome of this year.  What could you do to ensure 2018 will be different and better than what you’ve experienced in the past?

Closing remarks and encouragement:  New Year’s Resolutions don’t work well for most people as we place high and unreachable expectations on ourselves and then fail miserably.  I want to encourage you to take an inventory of the outcome of 2017 then purpose to create better habits for yourself.  Things such as reading the word of God, praying daily, as well as cultivating your relationship with your Father above through purposeful times of intimacy with Him.  The lives we live as believers should be less about fulfilling fleshly desires and more about leading others to the saving knowledge of a loving Savior.  Purpose to do better…….to be better in 2018.  The power to change is in your hands.  What will you do with your power?