I don’t know if you keep any sort of journal.  I have kept something like a journal off and on since before I was married.  The interesting thing is that I typically don’t write a single thing until I’m upset, disappointed or completely depressed.  That means my journal for some extremely dismal reading!  If you were to read my journal, you would probably plunge into depression yourself since everything seems horrible.

If you did journal, flashforward to December 31st 2010… Remember this is a flashforward to the end of this year some 11 months from now.  Now imagine you writing an end-of-year wrap-up in your journal.

Could you see yourself writing something like this:

Today is dec. 31st, Man, what a year 2010 has been!

my marriage has never been better than it has over the past 7 months.  Even though I lost my job this year, we made through with faith.  And as for my new job, it doesn’t pay as much, but my family seems happier than ever, and we’ve got all that we need.

This year I overcame many problems and addictions that I have struggled with year after year.  But not this year.  My church is great, and we were able to do incredible things.  I can see a lot has come out of me and some others getting  more serious about God than ever before. We’ve seen families like ours experiencing awesome change.

2010 was also the year that I took my health seriously.  I guess getting rid of fear and stress really was better for my heart after all.  And now I see the difference all this is making in my kids and my spouse since I adjusted my priorities and became the Christian I never was before.

2010 was like no year before.

Play around with this idea of flashforwarding what you would like to see by the end of 2010.  I hope this series of messages about the future has motivated you to make your spiritual and family goals a reality by this time next year.  Share some of your thought about what you saw when you flashed-forward.  And remember it’s not just what you see in the future…it’s what you do now with what you see.

Today I reached my goal to be “overweight.”  Sounds funny, but it really was my goal.  I know, I know…you’re outraged too.  But I’ve accepted it, and moved on.  Better yet, I determined to get fitter. You see, according to Wii Fit from Nintendo, I was in the “obese” category.   So, my first goal was to go from obese to overweight.  And if it sticks past today, you can give me a big fat checkmark on that one!

Others may think that becoming overweight is the opposite of hardwork, but for me it took a lot of initiative.  It takes determination to get where you’re going, even if your goal is a little odd.

The Bible commends us to have goals and to work hard to achieve them.  It also tells us how wrong it is to procrastinate and make excuses. Here’s another seemingly backward way of saying it…

“The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, but the soul of the diligent is made fat.” (Proverbs13:4)

In other words, the person who isn’t diligent about what he or she wants, ain’t getting it.  However the diligent person will work and be richly rewarded for it.  In this translation of the Bible, it says, that the person gets “fat.”  But that’s just another way of saying that he or she is extremely satisfied with the results…you know, “fat and happy!”

What points will you plot throughout this year?  This weekend will be a motivational conclusion to the Flashforward message series.  I hope you’re ready for the future that you’re busy working towards.

Yesterday’s worship for me was inspiring.  Thinking about heaven as described in Revelation 4 often moves me.  I like to think about the songs that are being sung throughout eternity (actually it doesn’t say that they were singing…but I like to think that what they’re saying is very melodic:

Revelation 4:8-11

Day and night they never stop saying:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,
who was, and is, and is to come.”

⁹Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, ¹⁰the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne, and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:

¹¹“You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they were created
and have their being.”

The new song the band did yesterday called Revelation Song is a favorite of my wife, and it was so beautiful.  If you notice the words to that song is exactly what the inhabitants of heaven are using even now…and will use forever.

If you have any doubt that you have an eternal hope of heaven and forever worshipping the Savior Jesus Christ, then I want you to begin considering what it will take to secure that future for you.  Talk with me about how God will help make it clear to you too.

I suppose this has to be one of the worst times to blog because everyone is back to the grind.  If you’re back at work, your inbox is most likely overflowing with both junk and other important tasks.  And if you’re interested at all in blogs, I’m sure all your favorite bloggers are back at it, so your RSS will be pretty full too.  By now, all of you have probably resolved to stop wasting so much time reading blogs anyway…Ha, ha!

That makes me think of one of the points of yesterday’s message…some things should be left behind.  Just as you know that leaving behind “time wasters” at work will help you achieve your goal for more effectiveness, getting lost in the past can often hinder us from pressing on toward our future goals.

Paul said, one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Phil. 3:13-14)

It’s true for our goals about business, effectiveness and our spiritual lives too.  Hebrews 12:1 says, “let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” In other words, you can’t focus on where you’re headed if you’re always looking back.

Forget the unhealthy things that are behind us.  The past can’t be changed and all we have is now.

As Switchfoot put it, “Yesterday is a wrinkle on your forehead.”  Take a listen, and stick to those resolutions.