Get A New Calendar - If You Want A New Life

Well it's the first few days of 2012 and that means it's time for many people to get started on their list of New Year's resolutions.  I hear the gym is more crowded than usual and people are showing up to work on time.  It seems like more people are reading their Bible, three days in to the New Year and I'm guessing that prayers are on the rise.  The New Year is always a time of hope, expectation and even excitement!  At least for the first few days.  Then it seems our schedules get the better of us.  Time gets tight and we get lazy.  By March the good parking spots at the gym will once again abound and Bibles will again become dust collectors.

But maybe that isn't our fault.  I mean, I would be much more willing to go to the gym if every time I finished another 5k on the treadmill the scale proved that I had actually done something!  And Bible reading would be much easier to accomplish if God did something incredible every day that I read.  But that's not reality is it.  Physical training and spiritual training both utilize delayed gratification.  If you really want your gym membership to pay off you need to reorganize your calendar to maximize your efforts.  You have to make your workout time a priority and plan your meals so they benefit your goals instead of your waistline.  And the same is true for your spiritual health.  You need a new calendar that puts God in control.  Instead heading out every day letting someone else, your boss, spouse, kids, bills, control your schedule you need to plan your days around God.  When you do, He begins to organize your daily events on His timeline.

Here's how it worked for the Israelites.  For 430 years Pharaoh kept their calendar full with his plans and desires.  So every day, 7x365, they got up and made bricks.  Now, they needed to make bricks to support their lifestyle.  If they didn't go to work they were not given food.  Worse yet, they might get punished, lose their job or even their life!  Making bricks provided them with lots of good things, food, shelter, clothing.  So when God called them to something new He knew He had to get a hold of their calendar first.  He needed to reorient their lives to His timing and schedule, instead of Pharaoh's or even their own.

In Exodus 12:1,2 God talks to Moses and does something that hadn't happened since the beginning of time and wouldn't happen again until the birth of Jesus, He gave them a brand new calendar.

Because of what God was preparing to do with the Israelites He needed them to be on His time and following His schedule instead of Pharaoh's.  So God gives them a new calendar to follow.  Nothing changed immediately, few things do, but God needed the people to be on His schedule so they could see that He not only knew what He was doing, but would Himself see that it was accomplished.

So for the first 10 days on God's schedule the Israelites got up and made bricks.  Everything seemed to be exactly the same, except that now they were told in advance what was coming and to be ready.  On the 10th day they were to pick out a perfect yearling lamb.  Then back to brick making.  On the 14th day they killed the lamb, made up some bread without yeast and painted their doorposts and lintels with some of the lamb's blood.  And on the morning of day 15 they walked out of Egypt - free.  Free to follow God on His schedule and in His time.  

The Israelites needed to have a new calendar because they were going to have a new life.  They needed to be following God's timeline and schedule because, let's face it, their old one just wasn't working for them.  And once they Got on God's time they were able to see His plan unfold and they were able to join Him because He had cleared their calendar, made room for Himself and created space for them to grow into their new life.

Maybe this year what you need, instead of a bunch of new items added to your old calendar, is a brand new calendar.  I'm not talking about a new 2012 kitten calendar.  I'm talking about a calendar that gives space and precedent to God.  A calendar that allows Him to organize and schedule your days around His perfect plan for your life.  You could continue to make bricks every day.  Or you could begin to see what a life lived on God's time for God's purpose really looks like.  Once the Israelites got on God's calendar He was able to use them to glorify Himself and prove to the Egyptians (and others) that He was the One True God.

If you want to change your life, start with your calendar.  God has to get you using His calendar BEFORE you get to see His plan.