Walking with God specifically means . . .

 

Last night I dreamed of helping another Christian who had taken in several refugee families. She was overwhelmed so for the day I took one of those families who had a rambunctious child. It was a long dream as we drove all over the city and did several things.

This morning, the little prayer book that my son gave me last Christmas was about the longing to help needy people. It gave several specific examples of doing that, such as giving my sandwich to a homeless person or visiting someone who is sick or in prison.

This set me up for today’s devotional entitled, “Walking with God includes reconciliation, obedience from the heart, and ongoing faith” and based on the verse, “Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.” (Genesis 5:24)

MacArthur generalized walking with God to being a reference for my manner of life. He quotes as an example:

And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; (Colossians 1:9–10)

Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. (Ephesians 4:17)

Therefore, be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. (Ephesians 5:1–2)

These are great verses, yet they are general, basic descriptions of attitudes helpful to discern actions yet not specific. My mind is continually full of good ideas. I even dream them, and that little prayer book adds more suggestions. No day is long enough to do all that comes to mind.

Even MacArthur’s examples implied from Enoch’s walk are general, such as reconciliation from: “Do two walk together, unless they have agreed to meet?” (Amos 3:3) From this, Enoch was obviously reconciled with God through faith.

The second example is: “And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it.” (2 John 6) MacArthur says walking with God is obedience, again a broad term and too general to help with deciding what specific actions God wants from me.

The third example is the same: “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving . . . . for we walk by faith, not by sight.” (2 Corinthians 2:6-7; 5:7)

While these describe attitudes and are helpful, they do not tell me if walking with God on any given day means visiting DD in the hospital, or staying home and finishing a quilt for SW, a needy refugee. Do I invite the neighbors for dessert or call on a lonely widow?

For me, walking with God is about an intimate relationship where I hear His whispers directing me, feel the tug of His hand in specific directions, and just know that He wants me to do this or that. Of course, the right attitude needs to be in place but there is a subjective side to all this and it cannot be given in a sermon or defined by a devotional.

PRAY: Jesus, I am so thankful that You reconciled me to yourself and gave me faith to take hold of Your hand. I praise You also for helping me love others as You love them. Most of all, I’m thankful that You speak to me by Your Spirit so that I can know exactly what my minutes, hours, days should look like and the insight to realize when I have let go of Your hand and taken another path. Also, I’m glad that when I do stray, Your voice calls me back beside You, again holding Your hand and walking with You.

PONDER: Paul wrote “Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” (Galatians 5:16) This means recognizing the flesh and the motivations of my heart. The best and perhaps the only way to do that is through a constant habit of reading and studying. “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12) which is another gift from Him!

 

 

The call of God

One of the big questions of life is ‘why am I here?’ For what purpose did God create me?

In listening to many preachers, reading many books, and referring to statements of faith and various catechisms, I’ve concluded that God never uses cookie-cutters. The only similarity that I can find between all of the varied answers to that question (in a theological sense) is that each of us in some way is to reflect the image of Jesus Christ.

Yet we see like blind men touching various parts of an elephant. Each of us sees Christ in a personal way and the way His people reflect Him will correspond with how we see Him. If I see a teacher, then I want to teach. If I see a person of compassion, then I will be more apt to reflect that compassion. If I see Jesus being black and white about every issue, then I will reflect that way vision.

The reality is that Jesus is all things to all people. Not one of us can reflect all facets of who He is. Even if our sin didn’t get in the way, our various personalities, interests, and circumstances would refract the light that comes from Him. No one can view Jesus without a bias. Our particular way of seeing affects how we reflect Him.

For instance, besides the Apostles, Paul had perhaps the clearest look at the Lord Jesus Christ, which changed him forever. However, that vision was not the only thing that affected the way Paul mirrored Christ; he’d also received a particular calling that lasted a lifetime.

For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. (1 Corinthians 1:17)

Each of the authors of Scripture present Jesus in different ways. Like the blind men with the elephant, they describe their impressions. Their varying views are not contradictions but statements that show Jesus Christ as whole and complete. One description will never be sufficient to tell the world about Him.

For Paul, the call of God was to reflect Jesus as preacher of the gospel. Chamber tries to narrow what that means. He says gospel refers to the reality of redemption and separates that from sanctification. In other words, the gospel is only about salvation, not about what happens as God changes lives.

I don’t think the Bible does that. I see redemption in a larger way; I am redeemed from the penalty of sin, the power of sin, and eventually the presence of sin. To focus on only one of these seems a lopsided message.

As for His calling on my life, I’m convinced it includes more than sharing the gospel. I am to allow God to transform me into the image of His Son. At first, I thought that being like Jesus meant doing what Jesus did, but that also is too narrow. Now I’m less concerned about the “doing” part and more concerned about the “being” part. I must obey/do, yet He wants me to have His mindset, His attitudes. I can go through the motions, as can a lot of people, but being like Jesus means thinking like He thinks, and being motivated by what motivates Him.

Whether God gives me a global calling like Paul where I am to take the good news to the world, or I am to share and live out the gospel before my family and friends, I am to do it with the heart of God.

That said, it seems to me that my calling isn’t to imitate Paul’s global passion. God never told me to be or do what Paul did. I can learn from his victories (and mistakes), but God wants my life to reach a much higher and grander target:

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. (Ephesians 5:1–2)

Love your enemies . . . You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matthew 5:48)

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Bob was ‘released from solitary confinement’ today. Two nurses bounced happily into his room to tell him that he was free to walk about and visitors no longer need gowns/masks/gloves. I cried. This has been only two weeks, but seems like much longer. We went down to the cafeteria, dragging the oxygen bottle, but at least out of that room with the anteroom and sealed air system.

He has to be off oxygen before he can come home. However, he got his last dose tonight of that very strong, IV only, antibiotic. That means no one will be waking him up at midnight for another dose. Since he’s not slept more than a few hours at a stretch since early January, now he can get some of that precious ‘medicine’ that is so vital for recovery. :-)   PTL!

Cheering our team

We just watched our country win a gold medal in Olympics hockey. Followers and Canadian fans are united in their support and joy, leaping to their feet in celebration of their hockey idols. I wonder if anyone would televise the followers of Jesus Christ joyfully celebrating in united love for God and for one another?

Complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. (Philippians 2:2)

It should happen more often than it does, but like other forms of obedience, our selfishness and pride get in the way. The only cure for being sidetracked is operating with the mind of Christ . . .

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:3–8)

Hockey fans don’t need models to know how to cheer for their team. However, Christian love and unity has no spontaneous pattern. We who are sinners need to see what the love of God looks like, so God Himself gave us the template . . .

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. (Ephesians 5:1–2)

Even though these verses tell us to “imitate” God, it is impossible to mimic someone we do not know or have never seen. It is only in relationship to Him through faith in Jesus Christ that makes mimicking possible. When it comes to walking in love, this ability to imitate God proves that the one who does it is spiritual reborn and knows God . . .

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. (1 John 4:7–16)

I read these words and know for certain that I cannot love like God does. Apart from Jesus, my love is entirely inadequate. I am unable to do it without His Spirit. I also need to be certain that I am securely loved by Him, and therefore able trust Him to take care of everything that loving others will cost me.

Hockey fans rose early to support their team on the other side of the world. That cost some sleep. For those who went to Sochi, it cost them money and more. For Christians who are willing to love one another, it costs all our own plans and desires. It may even cost us our lives, as it did Jesus. However, loving God keeps us from idolatry, and as Colossians 3:14 says, when we put on His love and love others, it “binds everything together in perfect harmony.”