Walk, stand, sit! Not! Resolutions or revolutions?

If you do the 'read the Bible in a year' thing, you will likely have read Psalm 1 in the last couple of days. Verse 1 reads “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful;” It's all about not letting the World squeeze you into its mold, about being intentional about what we allow to influence us, about where we spend our time, what we think about, what stands we take, and what comes out of our mouths!

I have not always gone with New Year's resolutions (especially New years revolutions where I promise to change radically for the rest of my life!), but this year, I am aware that I need to change a number of things. In the last day's post I was talking about how easily we drift away, how easily we loose the reality of His presence. Perhaps you have never truly felt it, but most of us can look back on some experience of Him and wish it was like that again, wish that we could have more of the same.

God wants relationship with us. Jesus tells the Father in His high priestly prayer that the essence of eternal (abundant) life is knowing Him (John 17:3). I am probably not saying anything particularly deep when I say that relationships are hard. I have gone to a couple of extremes in trying to make them work for me. In particularly in the past there was too much fighting then, when that left me bleeding an wounded, I went to the other extreme and became a conflict avoider, seeking peace at any price. What I learned from the school of hard knocks in the latter attempt to make things work, is that you cannot make up for what the other person is not willing, or not able, to give to the relationship. God knew this before I did :-).

And He will not make up in His relationship with you or I what we are not willing (or able without His help) to give. Having said this, He is the one who spread wide His arms on the cross essentially saying to you and I and to the World “You will go to hell over my dead body.” He came to heal the broken hearted, He came to set us prisoners free (in particular from our addictions). He came to forgive and paid the price so that a Just and Holy God could welcome the broken, the hurting and the sinful into relationship with Himself. In other words, at incredible cost to Himself, He took the initiative in reaching out to each and every one of us. He pursues us too, but He will not force us. He loves us too much to force us out of the poor choices that we make on an ongoing basis! Our choices are powerful!

So what I am saying is that God is the initiator. He took the initiative in the costly business of making it possible for us to have relationship with Him in the first place, and He takes the initiative in perusing us. But He also waits for us to respond. It's a romance, a Divine romance. Is there anything so sad as unrequited love? He has poured out His love on us. God so loved the world He gave His one and only Son that whosoever turns to Him in trust and total surrender will not perish but will have abundant life in the here and now and life everlasting in the hereafter. So the questions is “What is my response, what is yours?”

Paul in the letter to the Romans (12:1ff) tells us that the only reasonable response to the tender mercies of God, is to present ourselves as living sacrifices, which is our spiritual worship. And when we do, He meets us where we are (as opposed to where we should be!). It is so easy to loose our zeal our passion for Him. When we do, we need to “buy gold from Him refined in the fire,” that we “may be rich...” (Rev. 3:18). Part of this “buying gold,” is to get rid of everything that hinders our relationship with Him. The second verse of the Romans 12 is important, it tells us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Part of this is to disallow the things that hinder, that is the council and the influence of all that is ungodly. We live in a society that is fixated on pornography and materialism, that is consumed with business, with meaningless entertainment and the like. It not that all of these things are evil in and of themselves (though some of them are). But the real problem is that they crowd out and choke the life we have in God. They leave no room for Him or His Word, for true fellowship with Him and each other.

The Christian life is not primarily about not doing the things that hinder, it is not about rules or regulations, it is about keeping my primary focus on Him. It is about nurturing my relationship with Him. So I need to spend more, and more quality time with Him. I need to hear His voice, I need to feel His presence, I need a practical revelation of how much He loves me. I need His help, His strength, His wisdom and His grace. When we do our part He works in us to do what we cannot do without Him. And then He is the one who brings real change, real revolution. So the good news is that it is not all up to me.

If you want to pray: Father it's not about me, it's about You. Please give me what I need to follow hard after You. Give me what I do not have, so cannot give, in this regard. Fascinate me with Yourself and continue to draw me and bring me into Your presence. Let me find my rest and peace and joy and hope and strength in You. Show me my part in all this, and then help me to play it. In Jesus name Amen.