christian walk – Page 3

Ponder the Path

Jehovah says, “Ponder the path of thy feet.” (Pr 4:26) We should be thinking carefully about the course we’ve chosen so far in life, and where our path is leading. Our decisions comprise our path, and our motives determine its course.

There are paths of the righteous (Pr 2:20) and of the wicked (Pr 4:14) … and God is pondering all of them. (Pr 5:21) Every choice we make extends our path in one direction or another, towards God or away, and God is noticing every time; though we can always turn back and retrace our steps, we can never actually erase one.

When we walk in darkness and lies we can’t see what we’re stumbling over (Pr 4:19); it’s an unstable path that’s impossible to understand. (Pr 5:6) “But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.” (Pr 4:18) Let’s choose each and every step of life thoughtfully, and well.

Staying on the right path ultimately distills down to just one thing: pleasing God. God give us grace, to know wisdom, to walk in in the light, in Your ways, in strength and power. (Pr 4:11-12) As we seek Him He is faithful to show us the path of life (Ps 16:11), and to walk with us along the way. (1Jn 1:7)

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Keep My Commandments

Every heart responds to the Creator in one of two basic ways: thankfulness and joyful obedience (Ro 6:17) — or distrust and disobedience. (Ro 1:21)

We all start out in sin, as rebels hating God (Ep 2:3), but God transforms some of us so we begin loving Him, trusting Him, thanking Him and obeying Him from the heart; He quickens our spirits to delight in His Law, (Ro 7:22) and starts writing His laws into our minds and hearts. (He 8:10) We then begin to enjoy obeying Him: a transformed nature, a new creature, is evidence of our redemption. (2Co 5:17)

It is in obeying Jesus that we love Him: He said: “If ye love me, keep my commandments;” (Jn 14:15) we love Him by keeping His Laws (1Jn 5:3), those laws within Torah, which are all spiritual (Ro 7:22) and eternally good. (Ro 7:12)

Unfortunately, most Christians are consistently taught that certain parts of the Mosaic Law are obsolete, no longer relevant, but Jesus didn’t abolish any part of Torah and He specifically told us not to think this way (Mt 5:17-19); it’s still God’s definition of sin. (1Jn 3:4)

Though we aren’t justified by obeying God’s Law, we’re deceived in thinking we’re in a right relationship with God if we’re still willfully disobeying Him. (1Jn 2:4) We’re far from salvation if we aren’t seeking to know and obey God’s statutes (Ps 119:155); we can’t worship in truth until we’ve learned His commandments (Ps 119:7), or even be earnest in seeking salvation if we aren’t already obeying Him the best we know how. (Ps 119:176)

As we seek to make our election sure, here’s an easy litmus test: if there are parts of God’s Way we still don’t like, that we disdain and deliberately refuse to obey, then we’re deceiving ourselves, carnal, still out of step with God. (Ro 8:6-7) Though there’s definitely room for sincere ignorance (1Ti 1:13), the stubborn, willfully disobedient soul has yet to be redeemed. (Ro 2:7-9) In other words, What’s the point in pretending to be transformed … if we aren’t acting like it? (1Jn 3:7)

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The Voice of God

Many of us long to hear the whisper of God’s Spirit guiding us in life’s journey. Wouldn’t life be so much simpler if God would just tell us what to do? Perhaps we need to learn to quiet ourselves, wait on the Lord, and listen to the voice of the Spirit for supernatural guidance.

Yet Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” (Jn 10:27) If we belong to God, He says we will hear His voice and follow Him; Christ never says this is something we need to learn. In fact, the idea that God’s children will miss doing His will because they don’t hear His voice seems to me foreign to scripture. (Jn 10:2-5) Perhaps we don’t yet understand the spiritual realm and what it’s like to hear the voice of God.

Following God seems to me simpler than we think. (Mt 11:29-30) As we walk in the light, He wills in our wills, speaks in our thoughts, and works through our acts. (Php 2:13) It isn’t complicated, yet most of us who call Christ Lord aren’t doing what He said (Lk 6:46): hiding His Word in our hearts and seeking to know wisdom as a manner of life. (Ja 1:5) If we aren’t even doing the basics, is it any wonder we’re struggling? If we aren’t careful, seeking supernatural guidance rather than doing what He says, we might open ourselves up for deception and hear the voice of strangers seeking to counterfeit the divine. In my experience, when we are obeying what He’s already told us, that hunger to hear a supernatural voice is fully and completely satisfied.

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He Learned Obedience

Joyfully obeying God is perhaps the highest form of worship. (1Sa 15:22b) It’s love acting out, “God, You’re worthy; You’re supremely important; Your desire is my only priority.” Those who love Him need not know why He commands, only that He does; “for this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments.” (1Jn 5:3)

ChristInGethsemane2 — The Passion: Christ Praying in Gethsemane

The greatest example of obedience ever may be Christ praying in the garden, “Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.“ (Lk 22:42) As He’d planned from eternity past, His will was to ransom those He loved. Yet He could not be self-willed in dying for us: He was willing to give that up and die an eternal failure in the garden, lying on His face in the dirt, if that was His Father’s will. It was the ultimate submission, where He Himself learned obedience and revealed His perfection. He was then fit to author eternal salvation for all who obey Him. (He 5:7-9)

So often God gives commands without telling us why, yet the quickened soul implicitly knows God is good. Like Christ, the Author and Finisher of our faith, we obey, not always knowing what blessing will come, but that there is blessing in any and all obedience. (He 12:1-2) Yet it is not for blessing we obey, but simply for Him, because He is worthy.

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Subtlety to the Simple

Of all the things I’ve admired in Jesus Christ, it’s never occurred to me that He is subtle.

Subtle: not obvious, and therefore difficult to notice; difficult to detect or grasp by the mind or analyze; indirect in a way that prevents people from noticing what you are trying to do; showing an ability to notice and understand small things that other people do not; able to make fine distinctions; delicate and complicated in an attractive way

As God, Christ does not present Himself to the world in splendor and power, but in weakness and poverty. There’s so much He doesn’t say; He seldom answers clearly or directly. He drops clues and hints, hides truth in stories we struggle to understand, and answers our queries with even more questions, questions which expose our hearts and motives.

Yet I’ve been living so differently inside … so very un-subtly … wanting to be heard and understood, arguing, reasoning, being as compelling and as thorough as I can be, frustrated when others do not see. Evidently, God’s not like that.

I’m beginning to see beauty in His obscurity now, in His matchless humility, in divine subtlety. Perhaps it’s because we cannot yet bear His fullness that He veils Himself so. Yet He’s about sharing even His subtlety with all who seek Him. (Pr 1:4)

Transformation is amazing, becoming something we never thought we could. Christ being formed in us means becoming like Him in every way. (1Jn 3:2) He who began a good work in us will perform it until the Day of Jesus Christ, (Php 1:6) who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. (1Co 1:30-1) This is hope indeed!

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To Know Wisdom

Looking back over my life I’m realizing that most all of my troubles have come from not being wise. I made my biggest mistakes going headlong against the counsel of those who loved me most. No one to blame but me.

RayOnTree

Wisdom is being like God, knowing the best thing to do at every step and doing it with the right motive. Wisdom is rooted in and springs from the fear of God (Ps 111:10a); He says it’s the most important thing. (Pr 4:7)

How do we get wisdom? Simple: seek it, the way men seek money or pleasure … every day, with our whole heart. (Pr 2:4-5) Asking, praying without ceasing throughout each day, “Is this wisdom?” (Ja 1:5) And as we ask, we must be obeying wisdom: making the wisest choice we can every time we make a choice. (Pr 9:6)

Life’s tough, but it’s tougher when we’re stupid. Let’s ponder our path and walk worthy of God. The goal is not to have an easy life, but to be the kind of person to whom God will enjoy saying, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.” (Mt 25:23)

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Love Your Enemies

Jesus said, “Love your enemies.” (Mt 5:44) Perhaps it’s the cornerstone of all godliness, actively seeking the good of others, even those who’d harm us.

This is unnatural, certainly; it denies our self-protective instinct. Returning good for evil enables and strengthens our enemies to harm us even more. Yet it is our God’s example. (Mt 5:45)

Living this way as a manner of life requires an energy from another world, a Life beyond our own. It is perhaps the greatest witness of the reality of God, that we commit our physical care into His hands, just as we have our souls and spirits. (1Pe 4:19) It is only then that we live as children of our heavenly Father.

There is a time to resist abuse, and a time to suffer according to the will of God. It is the wisdom of God to tell these apart, but there is never a time to wish ill to another. (Ro 13:10) Let us not fear to follow God in suffering for His name, for our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. (2Co 4:16-18)

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One Thing

Life can be overwhelmingly complex at times, and incredibly demanding. Keeping focus on what’s important can be quite a challenge.

Cave_Tree — Boynton Canyon, Scott McAllister

I’m finding it helpful to remember that only one thing really matters: pleasing God. Like Paul, we should be saying, “this one thing I do.” (Php 3:13-14) Maybe this can help us stay focused: if God is pleased, what else matters? If God is not pleased, what else matters … really?

But knowing what’s pleasing to God isn’t so easy sometimes; our ways aren’t His ways and He doesn’t see things the way we do. He calls us to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with Him. (Mic 6:8) He must transform our hearts to be like His, and this is a lifelong process. (1Th 4:1) But I think 99% of it’s desire, simply wanting to please Him. As this becomes our focus, He will show us the way.

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Walk Worthy

What kind of life does one lead to be counted among the 24 elders encircling God’s throne? What would that be like, a front row seat in His immediate presence, God’s inner circle, enjoying Him for eternity? (Re 4:10-11)

Then again, what could Jesus Christ possibly gain from inviting the likes of someone like me to sit with Him in His very throne, to rule and reign with Him? Yet this is His incredible promise to all who overcome. (Re 3:21)

But why long for a seat before the throne of God … or even a place beside Him in His throne … when I have God Himself? What more can I possibly desire when God grants me as intimate a fellowship with Himself as I can possibly stand … as if I were the only one in Heaven … for the endless eons of time? To have my God … is to have all.

What an unspeakable privilege to know this infinite, unfathomable God, and to be known of Him! (Je 9:24) Oh my soul … “that ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory!” (1Th 2:12) Is any way too narrow, or any path too difficult for me to walk with Christ down here, when I see Him before me at the end (He 12:2), in all of His unsearchable richness? (Ep 3:8)

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Every Perfect Gift

The very thought of someone who loves us taking the time to select a gift for us brightens the heart and lightens the soul. When a wise and wealthy friend delights us with a special gift … we anticipate a treasure.

How then do we respond to gifts from God? The wealthiest Friend imaginable … the most loyal, faithful, loving Being in all existence … what kinds of gifts does He give, and how do we respond?

James reminds us that “every good gift and every perfect gift is from above.” (Ja 1:17) Every gift from God is perfect and good; He gives no other kind. He knows us perfectly, loves us deeply, and He is omnipotent. He gives us exactly what we need, at exactly the right time, for our ultimate good and for His eternal glory. (Ro 8:28)

In receiving a gift from any cherished friend it is only polite to gratefully acknowledge it, taking time to enjoy it in their presence, connecting with them and immediately expressing delight and gratitude for their kind thoughtfulness.

Yet every moment of our lives is a precious gift from God, every step a gift from Him THE WAY, every word of Scripture from THE TRUTH, and every breath a treasure from THE LIFE. (Jn 14:6)

We are made to walk with God, and He is constantly offering Himself to us. What moment should forever pass from us without our being present in it, connecting with it, feeling it, tasting it … enjoying Him, relishing Him … and thanking Him for it, abiding in it, and in Him? (1Jn 2:28)

Let us ask God for the gift of receiving every moment as a precious gift from God … the perfect gift, at the perfect time, from the perfect Giver. Let us learn to linger in each one … tasting, relishing, giving thanks, connecting with each other and with Him … rejoicing with joy unspeakable and full of glory.

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