My Bucket List

Last night I read an excellent article about how to live my Christian life. It used a movie for its illustration, “The Bucket List.” I’ve not seen it, but the article describes two men are dying of cancer. They make a list of all they want to do before they “kick the bucket” and then proceed to do those things.

After I turned out the lights, I thought about my own “I want to do this before I die” list. I really don’t have one, just some vague thoughts floating around in my head. One of them is to get rid of the excess stuff in my house so my kids don’t have to do it.

This morning I was thinking about the value making a Bucket List. Instead of never being quite sure of what to do next, I’d have a list. My life might feel a bit more in control. However, the Holy Spirit began to nudge me with another thought. Instead of controlling my own life, am I not supposed to let Him do it? I also thought of a verse that says, “In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps” (Proverbs 16:9). I can make plans, but the outcome belongs to the Lord.

Unlike the movie, my life is to be totally God-centered in that I seek His will rather than my own. He often directs quite plainly and I know exactly what He wants from me. Yet there seems to be days filled with what some would call discretionary time, time that I’m not hearing from Him. What do I fill that time with?

If I put all my “like-to-do” stuff on a list, I might die before the list is done, never mind the items. While I actually do put my obligations and responsibilities on a list, even that one seems too heavy. I’d like to know God’s list for me, but how do I find it?

I know the answer. Even before reading where my devotional guide sends me today, I know that God is more interested in my character than my actions. He knows, and I know too, that what I do always flows out of who I am, out of my character. Today’s verse says exactly that.

I am the Lord who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy. (Leviticus 11:45)

These words were spoken to a people who had been in literal bondage as slaves, but also speak to anyone who has been in bondage to sin. Holiness isn’t about a pious and sanctimonious attitude; it is about being separate from sin. It is about turning my back on the old way of life and following the new heart that God has given me. Now I belong to God and He tells me to act like it.

This verse is repeated in the New Testament in a different context, but it says the same thing. Leave the old life behind, “But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy’” (1 Peter 1:15-16).

The reading for this idea says that the Christian life is summed up in being mimics, or imitators, of God, because Jesus said, “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).

In this verse, “perfect” means complete or mature. I’m not a little child that cannot reach to dad’s next footstep; God has given me all that I need to walk with Him. This is to be my focus. As the verse from Proverbs says, I can make my plans, but He will direct my steps.

Making a to-do list requires time, concentration and almost impossible priority decisions. I would be forever sorting and reassessing. Even the thought of making such a list is almost overwhelming.

On the other hand, walking with God requires only two things: faith and obedience. This is all that He asks of me and this is my very short Bucket List.