At times, when I write, the words get stuck somewhere between my heart and my head. For someone who can be a bit of a hummingbird flitting about from here to there that makes perfect sense. However now, rather than getting stuck somewhere with wings flapping wildly about, I know the importance of the pause that happens as the words pass from my heart to my head and then to the place where I put pen to paper. Pauses happened a lot this week. I had a subject in mind for my blog. I began writing, but as often happens, God had another plan.
In the pause, God always speaks to me. He knows exactly what I need and when I need it. I understand the stillness of heart, mind, and soul required if I am to get this right. That hummingbird part of me has gotten me into a fair amount of trouble over the years. Thankfully, the flitting about is no longer as pronounced as it once was. I attribute some of that to my age.
Slow and steady wins the race. I learned that one from Aesop’s tortoise and hare in elementary school. As with many lessons, it takes some of us more time than others to apply the learning in our own lives. That, I think, has more to do with our stubbornness and the choices we make than with getting older. I know plenty of younger individuals whose choices tell me they learned some of their most valuable life lessons far earlier in their lives than I. Their perseverance, persistence, and consistency demonstrate their understanding of walking the narrow road as opposed to the wide one. I see them and know the One who leads them.
As for me, I might not be as young as I once was, but I understand the value of good, though sometimes difficult, life lessons. In that, God gets all the credit for taking hold of me and for placing some remarkable people in my life to help lead me back to the narrow gate. We all need those people in our lives, and we need God’s unchanging Word to give our questioning minds the only truth that leads us to peace—the peace that surpasses our human understanding.
Stepping through that gate onto the narrow road or continuing our lives upon the wider path is a choice we all must make. Matthew 7:13-14 serves as our warning. “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few” (ESV). Not everyone chooses the path leading to life. That saddens me because I know that way, while hard, takes those choosing it on an indescribable journey out of darkness and into an amazing light.
What God promises is real. From Genesis to Revelation—every promise, every truth for our lives can be found there. Of course, reading the Bible is one thing, accepting the truth of God’s Word, quite another. Lately, God keeps leading me back to this truth, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:23-26, emphasis mine).
Tis the season to be giving, and grace is a gift, a precious gift God offers to all of us. It is one we should freely give to others as well. Something miraculous and freeing happens to us when we offer grace like that of God’s to those in our lives. When challenging situations arise, when disappointment comes, when people fail to meet our expectations, I wonder what might happen in our relationships if grace, deserved or not, were our first response? I wonder, too, if we stopped flapping our wings or our mouths wildly about, whichever the case may be, and extended kindness and mercy toward others how our relationships might change, how our own lives might change?
Often, we, too easily, ignore our own sins and mistakes. We have little, if any, tolerance and patience for others often assuming we understand their intentions. During this Christmas season of giving and beyond, a grand erase of what we think we know and a good long look in the mirror might help us see the plank in our own eye first. A simple pause and a glance at my reflection reminds me of the glaring reality of my sins, my mistakes, and my imperfections. I am thankful God’s mercies for me are new each morning, His steadfast love never ceases, and His faithfulness is unending.
I remember....”you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
The reality of who I am in Christ Jesus comes in the truthful answers God gives me when I pray and when I immerse myself in His Word. Here the presence of the Holy Spirit strengthens me and helps me fight every personal battle. Our battles all differ; however, true freedom in Christ requires we walk the same narrow road, and we crucify the flesh with its passions and desires. With God there is no compromise; however, He never intended we fight our battles alone. He gave each one of us the gift of the Holy Spirit, and carrying the fruit of the Spirit, we learn what it is to live by the Spirit and keep in step with the Spirit.
Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control are gifts God gives to us, and like His gift of grace we are all better for passing them along to others. Remembering I do not know the reality of another person’s fight, I pray the grace, so freely given to me, will always be my gift to others not only during this Christmas season of giving but also beyond. Wherever my daily walk takes me in the future, may I pause and remember, too, sometimes my best and most grace-filled response to others is often no response at all.
Seeking wisdom from God and His unchanging truth, I ask, “Is it greater self-control or patience I need, more kindness or gentleness? Do I need to learn more of love, of joy, of peace? Great is Your faithfulness, Father, strengthen mine. Let me not be the hindrance that keeps others from knowing Your truth and obeying it.” From day-to-day, the answers I receive are not always the same, but allowing the Holy Spirit to guide me, I pray to be filled with fruit of the Spirit that flows from my life into another life and then another until one day from our expanding circles of influence we all fill the Earth with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control—no more conceit, no more provoking one another, no more envying one another—just grace, simple, abundant grace—everywhere. What a precious and powerful gift!
Galatians 5
For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
2 Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. 3 I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. 4 You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. 5 For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.
7 You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? 8 This persuasion is not from him who calls you. 9 A little leaven leavens the whole lump. 10 I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view, and the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is. 11 But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed. 12 I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves!
13 For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.
Keep in Step with the Spirit
16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
I know that this is an overused quote from a movie (paraphrased a tad), but you really do make me want to be a better man.
Dan
Thank you for the wonderful post. It is the meat and potatoes of His Word. When you saturate yourself in God's Word, you will become that light on a hill =shining out to others and probably most of the time unbeknownst to you. May you be blessed and filled with His Spirit as you continue on this "narrow" path. Marian Caffee