The year 2017 is still young. Our plans for personal improvement are still fresh. But as the weeks mount and the months wane, many will falter on their best-intentioned goals.

For the Christian, there must always be one exception. Rather than waver in our resolve we should adhere more strictly to constantly drawing closer to God. The One who gave His best for us deserves our best every day.

Keep A Sense of Purpose

As Christians, we’re connected to God. We’re part of His family. We’re humans, saved by grace, which grants us a position recognized throughout eternity. I need to diligently keep improving that relationship this side of eternity.

Reading daily from the Bible matters more than my resolution to read more books. Attending church every Sunday that I’m physically able will benefit me more than keeping a weekly appointment at the local fitness center.

I can never repay Jesus the debt I owe Him, but I can give Him my best every day that He gives me life. That anchors my sense of purpose until I draw my last breath.

Keep Your Sick Animals

In the Old Testament God established a system of offerings with clear restrictions. He told the Israelites He wanted their best animals, not their physically flawed ones.

“You shall offer of your own free will a male without blemish from the cattle, from the sheep, or from the goats. Whatever has a defect, you shall not offer, for it shall not be acceptable on your behalf” (Leviticus 22:19-20, NKJV).

In strong language, God later asked if the Israelites would dare offer crippled and blind animals to human authorities (Malachi 1:8). God wanted Israel to give Him their best, not from time to time, but every time.

That challenges me not to wait until I’m tired to set aside time with God. Instead, I need to give Him the best part of my day. God deserves my mind at its sharpest and my physical energy ay its daily height.

Keep A Missionary’s focus

Missionary Hudson Taylor gave God his best. Taylor formed the China Inland Mission in 1865. By the end of his 50-year ministry, thousands of Chinese had turned to Christianity. He’s known for saying,”Christ is either Lord of all, or He is not Lord at all.”

Twenty-five years after Hudson Taylor’s death, Gladys Aylward paid her own way to China. She rode the Trans-Siberian railway as far as she could, then walked the rest of the way to her mission post.

Aylward worked hard to bring the gospel to the people of Northern China. Her dedication to giving her best for God every day is captured in part in the 1958 motion picture The Inn of the Sixth Happiness.

She summed up the philosophy that drove her with these words: “And when God asks us to do something, He doesn’t ask for one hand or one foot or one day. He asks for the complete you.”

The Road Ahead:

1. Is there any part of your time or talents that you’ve been offering to God half-heartedly? Are you ready this week to give God a healthier version of you?
2. Turn one of the following into a prayer of commitment: Hudson Taylor’s quote, “Christ is either Lord of all, or He is not Lord at all” or Gladys Aylward’s phrase,  “And when God asks us to do something, He doesn’t ask for one hand or one foot    or one day. He asks for the complete you.”
3. Begin every day of 2017 with fresh resolve to give God your best for that day.

Further Fuel: I Corinthians 10:31; Romans 12:1; Colossians 3:17.

The Snickers TV ad campaign, “You’re Not You When You’re Hungry,” began in 2010.

The first commercial showed young men playing a game of football with slow-moving, nonagenarian, Betty White. In a huddle, one of the guys complains, “You’re playing like Betty White out there.” Someone hands her a Snickers bar. One bite transforms Betty back into the young man she really is. In more recent ads, famous tough guys show their anger until a hearty bite of Snickers returns them to being normal people.

Why do those commercials work? We know the actors. We understand the situations. The best solution to their problems: eat the world’s most popular candy bar.

There’s a sermon in those commercials. And in many other TV ads. Sometimes that’s good; sometimes that’s bad.

SHARED DNA

Sermons predate TV commercials by a few centuries. But the two cousins of communication are very similar in one respect. A 30-second commercial promoting a product and a 30-minute sermon proclaiming Biblical truth both give a call for action. It’s their shared DNA.

Television viewers sit on couches watching a Snickers commercial. They feel the need for the candy bar’s sugar rush. Christians sit in church pews listening to a sermon. They sense the need to spend time in prayer with God.

Every TV commercial mirrors the essence of Paul’s words on Mars Hill when he told the Athenians why they needed what they didn’t realize they did (Acts 17:23).

Advertising companies promise you the whitest teeth, the most refreshing soft-drink or the quietest car ride you’ll ever experience. They want you to believe that their product–like God’s word actually does–will change your life.

DON’T COPY THAT COMMERCIAL

Sermons sell a better insurance than TV’s most famous gecko and noisy duck. But sometimes a sermon is too much like a commercial that doesn’t accomplish all it sets out to. Here are two examples.

•  Stories that lack clarity.

Jesus taught exclusively with parables (Mark 4:34). He drew from situations His listeners understood. But in a sermon, a captivating story isn’t enough.

Some TV ads awe you with a clever, well-executed situation, which you might remember for days without recalling what product it promoted. A sermon’s unforgettable story that doesn’t clearly point to the topic should not be the only thing listeners recall days later.

In his book, “Saying it Well,” (2012), Chuck Swindoll shares one of the questions he always asks himself during sermon preparation: “How do I want my audience to think differently and then respond after my sermon or speech?”

A sermon’s supporting material should do just that: support the call to action.

• Ideas with holes in them.

How do some medications that are pushed on TV receive FDA approval? When I hear the catalog of possible side effects on those commercials, I think, “That’ll  scare people away.” Especially when they mention, “Possible death.”

I’ve heard thousands of sermons in my lifetime. Some clicked in my heart. Some, like those medication commercials, left me scratching my head.

I’ve sat under sermons that preach a God who’s always angry. I’ve heard others that describe a God who’s nothing but love who just wants you to be happy. Both concepts of God have more holes in them than a package of Kraft Swiss cheese. The God of the Bible has a balanced dichotomy somewhere between Jonathan Edward’s “Sinners in the Hands of An Angry God” and Rob Bell’s Love Wins.

God is both holy and gracious. He accepts me as I am, but wants to improve every aspect of my life to conform to His will for me.

A PROVEN FORMULA

Exactly what prevents a sermon from scaring listeners away like the former, creepy Burger King, and makes it more memorable like the Energizer Bunny who still keeps going and going and going? Is there a proven formula?

A winning TV commercial (which can only fill a temporary desire) and an outstanding sermon (which has eternal consequences) both succeed for certain reasons.

Brothers Chip and Dan Heath titled their first book “Make to Stick” (2007). In it, they describe how ideas that thrive, do so. Their conclusions fit the strongest components of sermons, apart from the Holy Spirit’s guidance.

Four of their six elements are that the presentation is simple, it’s emotional, it’s concrete, and it’s story-oriented. That’s a realistic checklist for an effective sermon. Not complicated, not something that flies over people’s heads. It appeals to a listener’s emotions, on it’s way to their heart. It’s concrete and memorable rather than vague. And like Jesus, it uses stories others can relate to that point to the main point.

Here’s a shorter  version by the former Westminster Chapel pastor, G. Campbell Morgan: “The three essentials for great preaching are truth, clarity, and passion.”

The Road Ahead:

1. Observe TV commercials. Decide why they do or don’t communicate effectively. When they don’t, consider how a sermon can fail in the same way. Take note for the next sermon you either listen to or prepare.
2. The Holy Spirit will speak to you during the next sermon you hear. Decide which of the elements of communication on the lists by the Heath brothers and G. Campbell Morgan were tools in God’s hands to reach your heart.

Further Fuel: Hebrews 4:12; Acts 20:20-21; I Thessalonians 2:7-8.