Trying to thank God for 2020

Tom Harper Dec. 24, 2020

my saved content

VIEW AS
A PDF

iStock

The weeks before Christmas seem to be on hyperdrive for those in ministry and church leadership. Though I'm just a lay leader, can I share what my schedule was like a couple weeks ago? See if you can relate:

• Mon. 7:30 AM—Team meeting for a parachurch ministry that I've been serving for several years
• Tue. 7 AM—Weekly prayer group, then an end-of-year ordination ceremony for a large group in the afternoon
• Wed. 8 AM—Another weekly group, then a three-hour end-of-year ministry board meeting, then immediately afterward a two-hour meeting for a new workplace ministry starting up at our church
• Thur. and Fri.—Noontime meetings with different teams in church as they wrap up the year

I'm not saying my schedule was unusually excessive compared to yours, or anyone else's in vocational ministry. I guess my problem was trying to also do my regular full-time job that week, which had its own hurry-up-and-do-this-before-the-end-of the-year stuff.

Why is the lead-up to Christmas so hectic? I don't remember so much activity occurring last December. Though of course I barely remember what life was like anytime before the pandemic!

While I know in a practical sense that the effects of COVID will carry into the new year, and recovery will itself take months, I'm trying to cram as much of 2020 as possible into a box that I can hermetically seal and ship off to Timbuktu.

Many pastors and writers wisely tell us to look for good in the year gone bad; to find the opportunities for growth in a time of fear and anxiety. I hear them, and I know they're speaking truth. I just can't help my lack of success in finding enough good to outweigh the bad right now, as this was a year of much loss for our family and business. I know I'll see the good more clearly later.

But between the year that wasn't, and the welcome turn of the calendar, there is one event that grounds us in a healthier redemptive perspective: the birth of Jesus.

He entered a world in darkness, sickness and death. It was full of sin and regret. He himself died a horrible death.

Our perspective looking back on his sacrifice should be one of profound gratitude, because we clearly see the good that came out it. The grungy birthing room, the struggle against the evil one, the seeming defeat at the hands of an oppressive government, the torture.

All of it wasn't just redeemed—it became the most important 33 years ever lived!

If your year was full of angst and sickness, how do you think you'll see 2020 when you look back on it? Will you see how God redeemed a time of trouble, began healing a pandemic, sent his Word through millions of screens to people that had never heard it, and drove people to seek him rather than the things of the world?

Personally, I'll wish I had led better in 2020, despite the challenges. I'll regret not reaching out to more people who were struggling even more than I did.

But, thank God, it wasn't about me or my "lost year."

It was about a Savior who came to seek and save what was lost, to redeem souls and heal a globe infected by sin.

One day we will thank God for 2020, and we will see how he changed the world through it.

"You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives."
—Genesis 50:20

my saved content

VIEW AS
A PDF

Tom Harper is publisher of BiblicalLeadership.com and executive chairman of Networld Media Group, a business-to-business publisher and event producer. He has written five books, including Servant Leader Strong: Uniting Biblical Wisdom and High-Performance Leadership (DeepWater Books, 2019) as well as the Christian business fable Through Colored Glasses and its sequel Inner Threat (DeepWater, 2022). Learn More »

• An easy way to gauge your church's growth and decline (by Thom Rainer)
• 20 of the most difficult things pastors have done in their job (by Thom Rainer)
• What's your thought process for the new year? (by Rob Streetman)
• 5 major developments for small churches (by Thom Rainer)

Free eBook

Steps to Launching Your Personal Workplace Ministry

Have you ever felt the pull to full-time ministry work as a missionary or pastor? If not, you can still make a Kingdom impact without quitting your current job. In this eBook, you will learn the four essentials that can change your perspective of work, your workplace, and most importantly, your heart.

Download Now