On Going Out with a Bang

Tonight is New Year's Eve. I thought about discussing New Year's resolutions, but I figured everybody and their brother talks about that this time of year, so I decided to examine a different New Year's topic: fireworks.

Fireworks and New Year's Eve have a strong relationship, only superseded perhaps by the 4th of July. People crawl out of the woodwork on New Year's Eve to go to their local firework supplier to load up for the night's festivities. Some people even drive all the way out of state to purchase the flying combustibles due to certain state restrictions (like here in GA). The holiday rush for fireworks is so strong, most fireworks retailers rake in about 75% of their annual yield on New Year's Eve and the 4th of July.

When you consider this statistic, it's kind of mind boggling. Most fireworks stores are open most of the day 7 days a week, and on many of those days, customers may never walk into the store. When you add things up, that's a lot of time and effort put into 360 days of the year for very meager sales. However, on the 4 or 5 days surrounding New Year's and the 4th of July, everybody suddenly wants to buy fireworks, and the stores are packed.

This phenomenon is eerily similar to our spiritual lives. Our Father is present 24/7, waiting on us to come and share communion with him. However, most of us settle on reaching our spiritual "quota" by meeting with God on just a few days out of the year. Some of us are the twice-a-year folks who only attend church on Christmas and Easter. Others may go once every month or so.

You might be sitting there thinking, "Hey, I go to church every Sunday, so quit badgering me!" Is that good enough? Can we really experience all that God has to offer on one day out of the week? I think not. God sits there all the time, waiting to here from us, but we choose to show up only on Sundays or other special times.

Imagine if every night we shot off fireworks. That would be pretty amazing. However, most people are satisfied by shooting them off twice a year. Similarly, most Christians are satisfied with the "bang" provided by an occasional meeting with God, whether it be through a worship service, a prayer time, or even more seldom, a random hour spent in God's Word. But, imagine what life would be like if we experienced God like that all the time, every day?

Tonight, the old year will go out with a bang, and fireworks won't be shot off in full swing again until 07/04/2009.

Let's not let the same thing happen in our hearts.