Wednesday,
July 19, 2023
I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Ephesians 4:1-3
Noah wasn’t the longest-living person mentioned in Scripture, but he came
close. Chapter 9 of Genesis ends with the death of Noah at age 950. According to Genesis 5 Methuselah lived to be 969.
Compared to those guys, at 76 I’m just barely out of the cradle! I don’t expect to live as long as either of
them…at least not in this body! When my doctor implanted a pacemaker in my
chest a year and a half ago the battery only had a life-expectancy of 7 years. Batteries can be replaced…and I’m counting on
that…but our human body parts are not like the Energizer Bunny…we will not keep
going, and going, and going.
An uncomfortable and worrisome point of that fact is that we’re all
marching towards the grave. And the
question turns sullen and weepy if you dwell-on it for more than a passing
thought. I’ve known more than a few
undertaker professionals, and they don’t get invited to too many parties.
I’ve written before[1] about old brooms and their
worth in serving, and I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s usesless to attempt
measuring the worth of an instrument by the amount of time it lasts. Merely “lasting” is not why we’re born. A new broom that is stood in the corner of
the closet, and seldom taken-out to sweep the floor, remains unfamiliar with
the harder work of getting into the corner places. It may last for generations under those
conditions, but never improve the view of a room. It may be a good broom to look at, but its
measure is thin, compared to the purpose for which it was created.
In the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr:
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. We’re talking about sweeping the corners!
The fact about old brooms (as well as old men) is that they look worn out,
and they really are worn-out. But, if
they’ve lived a worthy life, they know the corners; they know those tough spots,
and uncomfortable truths that tend to shape a life for good or bad. That suggests an old broom has learned the
value of sustainability with usefulness, and wastes little
energy and resources on that which is passing.
In a life well-lived…a worthy life of sacrificial serving…there is
little time for the news cycle, that 15 minutes of fame and attention which
will pass like a wisp of smoke on a foggy morning.
For You Today
There are about 2,500 devotional
posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.
Title Image:
via Pixabay.com Images without citation are in
public domain. Unless noted, Scripture
quoted from NLT©
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