New Year’s Realization This Instant!

New Year’s Realization

What's New Year's without a party? Well, just another night. But let's run with the party picture.

The house is crowded with people dressed to the nines. White Christmas lights twinkle in the background. The DJ plays a few tunes and gets the dance floor moving. Laughter fills the room. Wine glasses are tipped and designated drivers pretend to enjoy their Shirley Temples. People continue to trickle in while you find the best seat in the house—an inconspicuous spot facing the front door. Here is where you make your New Year’s realization that there really are only two kinds of people in this world.

Enter the more common of the two, the “Here I am!” type. These people come in with their heads held high and their self-esteem down low. They are well put together and quite attractive. But when they open their mouths to converse, their true colors are revealed: self. All self, all the time. They are “here I am” people—insecure, self-oriented, and desperate for attention, even if they have to demand it, to feel good about themselves.

But the sweet refreshment that comes with a “There you are!” person. These are the people who light up a room when they enter it. They are rock solid, tried-and-true, completely confident. They need no ego stroking. They think nothing of themselves because they think the world of everyone else. They are fascinating people, but you would never know it because they are so busy asking you about YOU...not telling you about THEM. “There you are” people bless you. “Here I am” people drain you.

If life is about giving and taking, which is your habit? If relationships are about loving and sacrificing, how healthy are yours? If you walked into that dirty, smelly barn 2000 years ago, what would you have proclaimed to Jesus, the One who came to save you from your own dirt and stench? “Here I am; I finally made it!” Or, “There you are…my Savior and my King!”

“…in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” Philippians 2: 3b-4

“We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters.” 1 John 3:16, New Living Translation