Crisis points

It is said that those birthdays with a 0 after them are crisis points. Then, or a couple years on either side of them are times of making important decisions. They are not the same each decade, yet most center around bigger questions like, “What is life all about?” or “How do I want to spend the rest of my life?”

At twenty, I didn’t think about death or the shortness of life, but some do. A parent dies, or a friend commits suicide and death shakes the younger heart. At thirty, I didn’t think about who I would marry; I was already married, but some do. At forty and fifty, the life questions might be about relationships, family or finances. At sixty, thoughts will turn to retirement. For some, that might happen at seventy. I have a cousin who turned 100 this year and wishes he was still working.

Tozer writes about parting with the stuff of life, which happens to me each time we move. He says: “Father, I want to know Thee, but my cowardly heart fears to give up its toys. I cannot part with them without inward bleeding, and I do not try to hide from Thee the terror of the parting. I come trembling, but I do come. Please root from my heart all those things which I have cherished so long and which have become a very part of my living self, so that Thou mayest enter and dwell there without a rival. Then shalt Thou make the place of Thy feet glorious. Then shall my heart have no need of the sun to shine in it, for Thyself wilt be the light of it, and there shall be no night there.”

I know enough about giving up, about purging because the Lord has asked me to stop caring about this or that, or about doing something I enjoy but He is not using. Keeping my life pure from distraction becomes more and more a focus even as I realize how much my focus needs to be on Jesus Christ.

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.” (Colossians 1:15–20)

Tozer’s prayers prompt my words also . . .

^^^^^^^^^

Lord, how excellent are Your ways. Mine can be dishonest and ungodly. Show me how to die to all of that old self that I may rise again to newness of life. Tear the veil of my self-life from the top down just like You tore veil of the Temple. I want to draw near in full assurance of faith and live with You in daily experience here so that I will be accustomed to Your glory when I enter heaven to live with You forever. Rise into Your proper place of honor, above my ambitions, above my likes and dislikes. May I decrease that You will increase.