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As I was meditating on Psalm 34 this past week, it struck me that, like so many of the Davidic psalms, it was written during a season of transition.

I arrived safely home from Thailand on Tuesday night and am working through jet lag. It was a great trip and I’m so thankful for the opportunity to go. It was engaging in ways I expected it would be – and transformative in ways I didn’t.

The elders and I have been praying for the past year or so that the Lord would help us, as a church, to become more engaged in the gospel mission outside our building– both in our own community and around the world. I believe that the Lord is beginning to answer those prayers in wonderful ways.

The Heidelberg Catechism—that tested and proven instruction manual on Christian doctrine—has a helpful three-part answer for us.

What is happening when we pray? The king of heaven and earth, stoops down towards his beloved children, and listens to our cries. When we forget our relationship with the king of the universe our hearts become cynical.

The Bible compels us, as the church of God, to be passionate about a faithfulness that produces fruitfulness! As Jesus told His disciples in John 15, they were to abide in Him, and ask Him for all that they needed - so that they might bear much fruit to the glory of God (John 15:7-8). Biblical faithfulness will passionately pursue “much fruit”.

I was in Escondido for Westminster Seminary in California board meetings. It’s such a privilege to serve on the board of the school that gave me so much. I learned church history, and systematic theology, Greek and Hebrew, and some basic training in how to counsel and preach. But the most important thing I gained at WSC was the sufficiency of the gospel for salvation of the lost and the sanctification of the found.

A new year is typically the time for resolutions. Consider a Bible reading plan, a "salt and light" plan, or a generosity plan.

Contentment comes, whether we are full or empty this year, knowing that Christ has suffered the confining, paralyzing death of a cross. And he gave himself to us freely as a gift.