Tackling today’s to-do list . . .

Leviticus 4; Psalms 1–2; Proverbs 19; Colossians 2

These days, advice on how to live comes in from many directions. CNN tells the latest news, sometimes the latest fads and cures and if they don’t make it there, they will certainly be posted on social media. I feel inundated with instructions about wearing masks, not wearing masks, what I can do or not, never mind my own set of habits for living.

Today God offers me two main thoughts about all this information. First, He tells me this:

“Blessed is the (one) who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.” (Psalm 1:1–2)

While many people think that Christianity is about living by a code or a list of rules, that is not so. The Bible is clear (at least to me) that I am to walk according to the leading of God’s Holy Spirit. That means knowing what His Word says and knowing how to listen to that still, small voice that says, “This is the way; walk in it.”

I’m warned about human ideas and rules too. They might look good or make me look good, but they have no value:

See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily . . . Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ . . . . If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. (Colossians 2:8-9; 16-17; 20–23)

These warnings about legalism, mysticism and asceticism are associated with physical self-denial. But remember, Eve was told to not eat from the tree, but Satan added that she could not even touch it. I need to watch out where such advice might come from. Also, my devotional guide says asceticism arises out of guilt and reminds me that Christ has taken away all human guilt by His death.

And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. (Colossians 2:13–14)

I am not obligated to obey human rules. The world can live by the world’s rules but I am to live by the power of the Spirit united with Christ. I have died to sin: “For we know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be rendered powerless” (Romans 6:6).

This is the biggest reason I need to be alerted to doing things by habit, by the power of me. While I might seem capable, Jesus said, “Apart from me, you can do nothing” (John 15) certainly meaning nothing that is edifying for me or fruitful for others and for eternity.

Therefore He is instructing me again to pray, to seek His guidance and power before I do ANYTHING on that to-do list. He says, “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand” (Proverbs 19:21). I know this is true, but the habit of life is not praying, just doing and at that end of the day wondering if anything I did had any value.

APPLY: I need the Spirit’s constant reminders to “pray without ceasing” and a constant sense of need so I will seek His will for everything. For this, I also need Him to do it for He is the vine, my source of life and I am a mere branch. This mere branch needs assurance because I am sometimes disconnected. Yet He affirms that when I forget and go ahead in my own strength, the blood of Christ has already covered my failures:

“ . . . If anyone sins unintentionally in any of the LORD’s commandments about things not to be done and does any one of them . . . and the priest shall make atonement for him for the sin which he has committed, and he shall be forgiven.” (Leviticus 4:2; 35)