Romans 7:6
But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit...

Last night as I was emptying the last few items from the dishwasher, I picked up a couple of spoons, looked at the leftover food which hadn't been cleaned off the first time, and then put them back in the rack to be washed again. Thinking better of that plan, I pulled the spoons out, scraped the dried food off of them, and then put them back in for another washing.

I'm always a bit amazed at how willing we are to do the same things in our lives and yet hope for better results. In fact, Albert Einstein once said that the definition of insanity was "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." How well Al described the majority of the church. Most of us hope that we have a better year in 2007 than we did in 2006. We hope that we'll read more in the Bible, or develop closer relationships with other members, or cultivate a much more rewarding prayer life. Of course, we have no intention of ridding our lives of any of the things that may have gotten in our way of achieving those very same things last year. For you smart people who understood the Einstein quote, we're insane. For the rest of you, we're just dirty, gunked-up spoons going in for another wash and hoping that this time it works.

I feel pretty confident in telling you that it won't work. There's no way you can hope more, believe more, or even try more and change anything without, well, changing. Don't just want to lose weight this year - quit eating the chips and go to the gym. Instead of getting mad because you think you deserve a raise for being such a swell worker, actually go work your tail off so that your boss sees what you've done.

Even more importantly, make it your goal this year to do differently the things you need to in order to be in a different place 365 days from now.

I mean, who wants to be a dirty spoon, right?