Perspectives

Getting back to the basics in 2020

By Bill Harvison
Posted 1/23/20

In wrapping up 2019, I kept thinking about 1999 and how Y2K was going to be “the end” of us all. Now, here we are, 20 years later (with more gigabytes on our phones than our computers …

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Perspectives

Getting back to the basics in 2020

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In wrapping up 2019, I kept thinking about 1999 and how Y2K was going to be “the end” of us all. Now, here we are, 20 years later (with more gigabytes on our phones than our computers had) going strong.

A lot has changed in those 20 years. No one carries pagers (except doctors), a payphone is non-existent, and cars are driving themselves.

A lot of things have changed in the last 20 years, but one thing that has stayed the same for the last 2,000 years is what Christ did for each one of us. He died so we could live. His unselfish love for us is our example of how we should treat others. 

As I am ready to embrace 2020 and looking forward to all the new technology and things to come, I am reminded of a story I once read about Green Bay Packers Coach Vince Lombardi.

It was the start of the 1961 football season, and Coach Lombardi entered the room to address his professional players, holding a bag. He reached into the bag, pulled out a football and said, “Gentlemen, this is a football.” He was making a clear point that the team had to remember the basics if they wanted a better season.

In the craziness we call daily life, it is easy to let the basics slip by.

I want to encourage you in 2020 to evaluate the basics of life. Spend more time with your family. Make it a weekly, if not daily, habit to eat meals as a whole family unit. Take your spouse out on a date. Do something good for someone else, just to be nice.

Jesus Christ summed it all up in Matthew 22:39, when he said, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” So let us make 2020 the year to be more like Jesus, and return to the basics of life.

Our cars may drive for us, our groceries may be delivered with an app, and we may see flights to Mars, yet nothing compares to the love and goodness of Jesus.

No matter what we see developed in the next 10, 20 or 30 years, it will not compare to the time we have now to be more like Jesus. I am excited to watch 2020 unfold. Let’s all work at making it the best year ever by returning to the basics. Put Jesus Christ first in your life, and follow in his ways.

(As of Feb. 1, Bill Harvison is the new pastor of First Southern Baptist Church.)

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