Now in the second year after their
coming to the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, Zerubbabel the
son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak made a beginning, together with the rest of their kinsmen, the
priests and the Levites and all who had come to Jerusalem from the captivity.
They appointed the Levites, from twenty years old and upward, to supervise the
work of the house of the Lord.
—Ezra
3:8 ESV (emphasis mine)
I can hear some of you groaning already—just from
reading the title of this message. Here
we go again! Someone else is pushing me to make a New Year’s resolution.
With everything you hear on TV this time of year, there
is no wonder you would suspect nothing less.
When spending the day home alone, I kept the TV on for
some company. In the background, I heard others promoting their strategies for
losing weight, reducing stress, and becoming financially successful. I even
heard one speaker lay out her blueprint for optimum health—a daily dose of Aloe
Vera.
If we’re not careful, we can allow these voices to
infiltrate our thoughts and lead us on a path to self-destructive thinking. We may
feel guilty because we don’t have it all together already or overwhelmed
because of all the changes we need to make to live up to these standards, to aright our lives. We may resent having to
give up things we enjoy.
