Hello Bridge Town Church, and those of you joining us online, my name is Bethany Allen,

and this is the Bridge Town Daily for Thursday, January 28th.

While we are slowly rolling to the end of the first month of the year, and by now it's

clear whether those resolutions have stuck or not.

Now most years I'm up for a fresh start or challenge, but this year I thought surviving

would be sufficient.

The idea of resolutions got me thinking recently about what it takes for people to accomplish

things, about the motivators of success, and in particular in the Christian life, what

are those factors that result in greater faithfulness?

Certainly, the dream is that we're all motivated to faithfulness because of our deep love and

desire for God and even others.

But the truth is, faithfulness, despite our earnestness, isn't sustainable simply by

these things.

Yes, they're helpful and even necessary, but they aren't the soul markers or foundations

for a life of faithfulness.

In part, this is because we don't always feel that deep love, and it's also because our

hearts are drawn by love towards other things.

So if it isn't just our love for God and others that motivates our faithfulness, what does?

While I was meditating on this over the Christmas break, I was reminded of this old song by a Christian

singer from the 80s named Keith Green.

Now, if you've never listened to his music, you should.

He was unbelievably prophetic, and his music, while different, is so, so powerful.

...