Take the Next Step!

Fifteen years ago, I had a life plan! Today, just a few of the pieces of that plan are in place. Was my strategy flawed? Not so much. Things I could not have foreseen changed the course of my life, Bev’s illness and death, the COVID pandemic, just to name a couple of those. Yet, I am still in God’s hands and at peace. What I learned is the importance of taking the next right step along the way, even when the future is unclear.

James, the pastor of Jerusalem Church, wrote these inspired words to us. "Look here, you people who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.” How do you know what will happen tomorrow? For your life is like the morning fog-it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.” (James 4:13-15, NLT)

The real issue for Christians is greater than some detailed life plan. It is our daily obedience. But what is His will? Do you ever wish God would be clearer in His directions? We wonder if we should take that position or stay where we are, if we should invest in that effort or walk away, if it is the right time to buy a house, go to school, get married, go for a second career. We love our options. True disciples of Christ realize that all these plans are made in submission to the will of One who sees beyond today. So, we hold onto our plans loosely, ready to respond to the Holy Spirit’s leading.

How does that happen? While reading about Paul in the book of Acts, we might mistakenly conclude that a voice from the heavens sounded in his ears, pointing him in the right direction. Well, think again. “Next Paul and Silas traveled through the area of Phrygia and Galatia, because the Holy Spirit had told them not to go into the province of Asia at that time. Then coming to the borders of Mysia, they headed for the province of Bithynia, but again the Spirit of Jesus did not let them go. So instead, they went on through Mysia to the city of Troas. “Acts 16:6-8 NLT Study a map and you will find that these apostles wandered! Their plans kept changing.

The impressive lesson in this passage is their faithful endurance as they kept walking and waiting. They pushed in one direction until the Spirit said, "No," then they went in another direction. Maybe they wondered IF they had heard from God at all, but they kept moving forward. In the next few verses, we see that God led them into a new region, and they were privileged to extend the borders of Christianity into Macedonia and Phillippi.

Pastor Mike Woodruff wisely observes that often we just ‘do the next thing.’  “After Jesus raised Jairus’s daughter from the dead, he instructed her parents to keep the miracle a secret. He also told them to get her something to eat. In the past, I’ve wondered about the secrecy. I’m now intrigued by the sandwich. Why? Because it fits a pattern.

After healing a paralytic, Jesus told him to pick up his mat and walk. After cleansing a leper, he told him to report to a priest. After preventing a stoning, Jesus told the woman to “go and sin no more.” Jesus didn’t demand people develop a life plan. Nor did he leave them alone. Instead, he directed them to do the next right thing. It was an immediate and simple step forward.”

IF we choose a daily response of obedience to love Him, to love others, keeping our heart and mind in a worshipful place, HE WILL GUIDE US. Many choices need no special revelation to us. These things are always the right choice.
Love others.
Be forgiving.
Do good works.
Stay in fellowship with God’s people.
Tell others about His love.
Have a servant’s heart.
Keep a prayerful heart.”

A heart yielded to His Lordship is the key to ultimately finding our way to peace and contentment and will cause us to know the greater fulfillment in His service. There are so many reasons we don't always sense the Spirit guiding us as clearly as we might wish. There are -
-the tests that come to lead us to deeper trust and greater intimacy with God,
-the circumstances unknown to us but known to God Who is always at work for our good,
-the sins that make us insensitive to God’s Spirit,
-the pride and/or prejudice that makes prayerless and self-willed.

If you're feeling like you’re on a detour from your plans, if you feel like you are just wandering at the moment, stay faithful! Do the next right thing.
Keep praying. Don't sit down and feel sorry for yourself! God is alive and well. He is actively working out His plans and purposes, so keep the faith. Keep walking and waiting, listening, and responding.

The word from the Word is a beautiful passage, packed with promise. Take it with you today and live in His peace. “For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”  (Romans 8:13)

Amen

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Meaning?

With my 70^th birthday a few days away I am reflecting on life; choices made, days invested or wasted. My reveries are part nostalgia and more importantly, evaluation. I think these thoughts are common to people of a certain age.  There are so many ways to measure one’s life, aren’t there?  Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, with a net worth estimated at more than $200 billion, is getting married in Venice today. The wedding will gather 200 of the world’s glitterati and cost more than $75 million! Such excess is one way to attempt to declare one’s worth.

We more common folk look a bit differently on life, right?

We might ask -
*How much money do I have in the bank?
*What kind of status do I enjoy?
*What positions did I hold?
*What awards with my name etched on them hang on a wall somewhere?
*Was I happy?
*Did I make family relationships work? Who loves me/hates me?
*Is a street named in my honor?
*Did my life add net worth to my place in this world?

There is a book in the Bible that asks and answers the question of meaning.
An old king named Solomon wrote it, calling himself “the Teacher.”  He had a whole list of accomplishments – cities and buildings he had brought into existence, a prosperous nation he had led, hedonistic pleasures beyond the imagination of most enjoyed, great wealth amassed, envy and recognition of many… and in summary he cynically recognizes that none of it proves a thing about his meaning, purpose, or ultimate value.

He cries “as I looked at everything I had worked so hard to accomplish, it was all so meaningless—like chasing the wind. There was nothing really worthwhile anywhere.” (Ecclesiastes 2)

When life comes down to the essence of our existence, there are just two measures of worth and value. Jesus calls them the ‘greatest commandments.’ “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.  A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Matthew 22)

Rich or poor, famous or obscure, accomplished or not, what pleases God and gives us the deepest satisfaction is knowing and living in God’s love, gifted to us through Christ Jesus, and then boldly loving others – not just in words, but with profound care, respect, and compassion. He asks, “what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?” (Mark 8)

Solomon set aside his cynicism in the end and left this inspired wisdom to us. We do well to heed his words so that when we are near the end of the race, we will not cry that life has been a ‘vanity of vanities,’  without meaning! He says “Don’t let the excitement of youth cause you to forget your Creator. Honor him in your youth before you grow old and say, “Life is not pleasant anymore.”… Here now is my final conclusion: Fear God and obey his commands, for this is everyone’s duty. God will judge us for everything we do, including every secret thing, whether good or bad.”  (Ecclesiastes 12)

Here is a prayer of Augustine. As we make his words our own, may our choices make our lives full of holy purpose and eternal significance. Let us pray -

“Grant me, even me, my dearest Lord, to know you, and love you, and rejoice in you.
And, if I cannot do these perfectly in this life, let me at least advance to higher degrees every day, until I can come to do them in perfection.

Let the knowledge of you increase in me here, that it may be full hereafter. Let the love of you grow every day more and more here, that it may be perfect hereafter; that my joy may be full in you.

I know, O God, that you are a God of truth, O make good your gracious promises to me, that my joy may be full; to your honor and glory, with the Father and the Holy Spirit you live and reign, one God, now and forever. Amen." (Augustine - 354-430)

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Lesser Things?

In the Summer of 1974, I fell in love, really madly in love! I thought of Bev when I awakened, dreamed about her when I went to sleep. When I was driving to pick her up for a date, I planned ways to surprise her with little gifts. As I discovered more and more about her likes and desires, I made it my purpose to delight her. There were cards, flowers, and phone calls – because I was focused on her.

40 years later, as she was dying, my life centered around her for those final months- sitting with her through the evenings, often just silent, coming home from the office early to care for her needs. It was not an effort because of our connection, the priority of love we had cultivated for decades!

Christians who want to know the real joy promised by Christ Jesus will make a similar kind of choice to prioritize Him in life. They will choose a higher focus, a daily connection, keeping Him in mind and heart through the day. The Spirit-inspired words of Colossians 3 teach us that. “Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory.”

 A key to this kind of focus is the Resurrection of Jesus, that pivotal event that reveals our eternal nature and God’s promise of forever life. Christians tend to focus on the Cross, where Jesus satisfied the holiness of God and opened the way for our reconciliation to our Creator Father. What happened at Calvary is important, but it is not the whole of the God-story. The completion, the ultimate moment was triumph over Death!

That is why in the passage I quoted earlier we read that we are ‘raised to new life with Christ.’  Our Christian hope is not just to live a bit better for a few decades on this earth. In Christ we become creatures of eternity, our goal a home with God in Heaven.

Make no mistake, there is a whole lot of living to be done before we go on Home, BUT the way in which we live is to be shaped by the promise of our Heavenly home. “Set your sights on the realities of Heaven” we are told. Let that hope captivate your heart and mind so that every thought is aimed at that moment when we step over time’s threshold into the unimaginable splendor of the Father’s house.

Yes, I live in the same world in which you live. I know fully well how easily attention is diverted to the new shiny things that can be bought. I know that promised wealth and greater pleasure can obscure our vision. Oh yes, I believe that we can and should live to enjoy love, to find a place of connection with others, and to experience the satisfaction that can be found in a great meal, a comfortable home, and rich relationships.

HOWEVER, those things are all transitory, easily taken from us by storms, wars, economic cycles, or cruel, selfish people. So, we remember always that our “real life is hidden with Christ in God.”  

What is most amazing about being possessed by the promise of eternal life through Christ is that we will live and love better in this world! That same passage continues making a direct connection between what we know of Heaven’s promise and the life we live.

The word from the Word comes from the practical instructions about the ‘new life’ we enjoy. Make the Risen Lord and the hope of Heaven your focus then go bless your world.

“Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives.
Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives.
Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. 
And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father. …
Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and that the Master you are serving is Christ.”

Amen

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