Life's Wider Picture

Wednesday, June 21, 2023

My child, listen to me and do as I say, and you will have a long, good life.  I will teach you wisdom’s ways and lead you in straight paths.  When you walk, you won’t be held back; when you run, you won’t stumble.  Take hold of my instructions; don’t let them go.  Guard them, for they are the key to life.  Don’t do as the wicked do, and don’t follow the path of evildoers.  Don’t even think about it; don’t go that way.  Turn away and keep moving.  For evil people can’t sleep until they’ve done their evil deed for the day.  They can’t rest until they’ve caused someone to stumble.  They eat the food of wickedness and drink the wine of violence!  The way of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, which shines ever brighter until the full light of day.  But the way of the wicked is like total darkness.  They have no idea what they are stumbling over.  My child, pay attention to what I say.  Listen carefully to my words.  Don’t lose sight of them.  Let them penetrate deep into your heart, for they bring life to those who find them, and healing to their whole body.  Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.  Avoid all perverse talk; stay away from corrupt speech.  Look straight ahead, and fix your eyes on what lies before you.  Mark out a straight path for your feet; stay on the safe path.  Don’t get sidetracked; keep your feet from following evil.  Proverbs 4:10-27

A question which I have always viewed with a little watchful skepticism is: 

Where do you see yourself in 5, 10, or 25 years?

Watchfulness over my answer is a matter of following the instruction my coach in high school gave me about hitting; he said:  keep your eye on the ball!  So my skeptical eye doesn’t have contempt for looking ahead to make plans, but rather objecting to such a short view.  As a life-navigator, I would rather see the end goal…it’s easier to chart a straight course that way.  And to do that for a life-plan you need to step back, get higher in the balcony, and see the bigger picture.

That snapshot of planning a life from the mere wisp of time we are granted on this planet, 50, 60, or 110 years, is way too short a focus.  Planning where and how you want your life to make an impact demands looking down the road for generations to come, even into eternity.  I’d rather start from the longest point from now, and work backwards to the present.

Now, many people would say:  That’s impossible; you don’t know the future.  And I would certainly have to agree that I don’t know the future, but I certainly can plan-for, and step-towards a goal I set for the future.

That is where Solomon’s wise advice comes in.  Wisdom for setting a life’s course begins with developing a worldview based on the light of truth, leaving evil and darkness in the dust behind you.  All else is meaningless (vanity if King James is a “must” for you). 

Only truth will guard your heart from sinking-into, and following evil.  When truth governs your heart, it will keep your mouth from perverse-speak; strength, healing and kindness will be your legacy, and it will last through eternity.

For You Today 

If you will let Solomon’s godly light of truth guard your heart today, and always, then 5, 20, or two-million years from now, your words and life’s impact on all who cross your path, will stand true, while evil is long forgotten. 

Prophet Isaiah has our last word today:

The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever.”  Isaiah 40:8

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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There are about 2,500 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper explore some of these:   Ears Open - Heart Straight - Eyes on the Road - Sure Foot  and  Small Package - Big Message  and  When the Killing is Done                                        

 

Title Image:  via Pixabay.com   Images without citation are in public domain.

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

A Life with Focus

 

Tuesday, December 7, 2021

By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life.  We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.  And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises.  These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.  In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises.  Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.  The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins.  So, dear brothers and sisters, work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen.  Do these things, and you will never fall away.  Then God will give you a grand entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  

2 Peter 1:3-11

I watched a TV show recently where one of the main characters, a lawyer, gets a middle-age wakeup call.  As an opportunity of a lifetime to advance her career presents herself, she hires a campaign strategist to test the waters for a run at public office.  Eventually the idea is scrapped because the strategist discovers the “likability factor” just isn’t there.  To be “electable” these days, the public wants more than just competence; a candidate must have personality.  The strategist probes deeper, and forces the lawyer to face what her life is really like.  She has almost no friends, does not travel, go to events, or “have a life” outside of her immediate family.  As for “public appeal” she is just part of the landscape.

With Peter, the likability factor wasn’t even an afterthought.  For the outspoken Apostle, the more important focus in life is godliness.  He informs his flock that God has placed in their toolboxes everything needed to turn their lives in a godly direction, to find the pathway to a life of moral excellence.  This aspiration to focus on building a life that is focused on pleasing God (rather than the acclaim of personal glory), is fueled by God’s own promises. 

Peter lays-out a road map that will take you to the Promised Land of godliness, the growing of our faith which produces mature, fruitful disciples of Christ.  Notice the progression from moral excellence to the application of love:

Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.

Like the other apostles Peter was once concerned with seeing Jesus have an earthly kingdom.  Somewhere in the travels and trials, Peter finally got what Jesus said about a kingdom that is far greater than any earthly public office or acclaim.  He got a glimpse of the Kingdom of God.

For You Today

So, what is the focus of your life?  And what kingdom and King holds your heart? 

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!  

[1] Title and Other Images:  Pixabay.com  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

For other posts on this text see the SERIES  “Conversations with Peter”  Episode # ONE  TWO  THREE  FOUR   FIVE  SIX  SEVEN   EIGHT   

Above All

Friday, April 3, 2020

For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better.  But if I live, I can do more fruitful work for Christ.  So I really don’t know which is better. I’m torn between two desires:  I long to go and be with Christ, which would be far better for me.  But for your sakes, it is better that I continue to live.  Knowing this, I am convinced that I will remain alive so I can continue to help all of you grow and experience the joy of your faith.  And when I come to you again, you will have even more reason to take pride in Christ Jesus because of what he is doing through me.  Above all, you must live as citizens of heaven, conducting yourselves in a manner worthy of the Good News about Christ. Then, whether I come and see you again or only hear about you, I will know that you are standing together with one spirit and one purpose, fighting together for the faith, which is the Good News.  Don’t be intimidated in any way by your enemies.  This will be a sign to them that they are going to be destroyed, but that you are going to be saved, even by God himself.  For you have been given not only the privilege of trusting in Christ but also the privilege of suffering for him.  We are in this struggle together.  You have seen my struggle in the past, and you know that I am still in the midst of it.  Philippians 1:21-30

Those who have lived long enough to have a sense that their days left on this planet are perhaps much less than the days they’ve already lived, develop one of two outlooks:

1.     Frantic activity to catch-up, to do what has been left undone

2.     At peace with what is, and what will be.

Apostle Paul is a study in the thin space between the two.  He was writing from a Roman prison to a group of people he loved dearly.  He sensed there was still much he could do to help them grow into the Christian force he’d envisioned when first they met.  Yet, Paul was at peace with the understanding that they were in God’s hands always; Paul was ready to see Christ face to face.

The one piece of work left for Paul in his circumstance was to encourage the church to stand with one spirit and one purpose, fighting together for the faith, which is the Good News.  He knew accomplishing this would only come about when believers unreservedly, above all, commit their lives to the faith.  The mission was in WHO Christ had called them to be, and HOW Christ had called them to live.  It was all about Christ…never about Paul.

I’m one of those people with a lot less days ahead.  Truth be told, I tend toward the frantic, frenetic worry that things are undone.  But I have (at least) learned that is a distraction.  The call to mission is never sounded with fearfulness.  The real mission is always just ahead, no matter how many days that may be.  It is always the next breath, next step, next person who crosses my pathway. 

Like Paul, I’m enthusiastic about finally coming face-to-face with Christ; like Paul, I’m also content here, living each day in communion with Him, and fellowship with all who are Christ’s, and the possibility of ministry to all who need to grow closer to He who is ABOVE ALL! 

Paul called on the Philippian believers to remember to honor Jesus with the way they lived their lives.  His word calls to us also, because, in this way we demonstrate to anyone who has eyes to see what it’s like to trust Christ completely.  That is our above all mission!

For You Today

The old Gospel song is our final word today on Paul’s wake-up call:

I am satisfied, I am satisfied, I am satisfied with Jesus,

But the question comes to me, As I think of Calvary,

Is my Master satisfied with me?

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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Title Image:  Pixabay.com  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

Other posts on Philippians 1 see What to Do and Confrontation with God                                                        and Ambivalence with Confidence 

Things That Make Perfect Sense

[1]

Friday, January 25, 2019

The instructions of the Lord are perfect, reviving the soul.  The decrees of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple.  Psalm 19:7(NLT)

Some days, more than others, I need to be made wise, revived, and awake!  Maybe the Psalmist understood this because he also had a toaster in the refrigerator.

Elizabeth and I are getting to that age…well, rather we are firmly entrenched in that age…where mundane tasks can turn out anything but mundane.  I couldn’t NOT take a picture of my toaster in the fridge.  I’m the breakfast guy around this house…cook it, serve it, and clean up after it’s over.  One morning last week I was in a hurry to do the cleanup, and in all the dishwashing, trash-emptying, counter-cleaning, and putting-awaying, I grabbed the toaster and the butter dish.  The butter went in the pantry cabinet and the toaster…well…you can see.

I’m not the only one!  Elizabeth was making the bed one morning several weeks ago.  It was one of those mornings she was changing the sheets.  Out with the old, slept-on for three nights, and in with the clean and fresh that’s so inviting at the end of a day.  Our bed has a big foot board, so making the bed is no small task for one person.  You have to make many trips around the bed, pulling, tucking, and straightening sheets and covers.  One bedding change equals four walking trips to Raleigh and back.  As my bride was finishing-up this monumental chore, just smoothing-out the last few wrinkles on the quilt and precisely adjusting the 62 pillows to complete the perfect bedroom effect, Elizabeth’s eyes saw the one thing out of place on the chair over in the corner – somehow the sheet, the one that should have been underneath all those sheets, blankets, quilt and 62 pillows, was not on the bed; it was neatly folded on my chair, grinning at her from the corner of the room like a toaster peeking out from a refrigerator!  Some days it hardly seems wise to get out of bed; you’d just have to make the thing anyway.

For You Today

For human beings there are times, days, even months, and perhaps years like that (I’ll let you know if our toaster and bed misbehave more frequently than usual). 

Nobody is exempt from the wandering mind syndrome; we all occasionally (or even regularly) do the absent-minded things that can end up with the phrase:  what was I thinking? 

If that’s been your lot lately, learn to smile, and thank God it wasn’t an alligator you stuffed in the fridge, or the peanut butter you spread on your bedsheets. 

It could be worse!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

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[1] Title Image:  Russell Brownworth, own image