The Intentional Walk

Walking is an activity.  To do it requires intentional movement:  standing up to our feet in an upright position and putting one foot in front of the other.  Walking is a fundamental development of human beings, and most of us learned to walk before speaking!  One of the key contributors to illness later in life is an increasingly sedentary lifestyle.  Through neglect and increasing obesity, even walking can become an unbearable chore.  There is a spiritual parallel for Christians to consider:  walking with Jesus is not a passive choice, but an intentional activity.  It is very possible after a passage of time our walk has been reduced to lounging and reclining upon plush sofas of familiar theology.  Unless we are intentional about walking with Jesus daily, every one of us can become spiritually flabby, senseless, and unhealthy - despite the breadth and depth of our knowledge.

One of the potential dangers for every Christian is we can become dull from much hearing.  When we hear the Word and do not respond in obedience, should we ignore the promptings of the Holy Spirit, we will become increasingly dull to God's voice.  We will pray but will not hear God speak.  We will read the Word without receiving any spiritual nutrition.  We will understand the words and concepts but receive no personal application from the text.  Church attendance will become increasingly burdensome.  We can sing Christian songs without a hint of actual adoration or worship of God, our dry eyes never moistened by the moving wonder of God's love.  Service to God will not provide us joy or satisfaction.  And all the while we are self-deceived, convinced we are actually walking with Christ when our hearts have wandered from Him long ago.  Other lesser, worldly loves will continue crowd out space for God in our life.  We will become increasingly distracted, burdened, and disappointed.  All the while we are feverishly working like Martha, wondering why Mary doesn't give us a hand, when it has been ages since we have taken time to sit and the feet of our Saviour Jesus Christ.

There is a hymn I enjoy that goes, "Just a closer walk with Thee, grant it, Jesus, is my plea, daily walking close to Thee, let it be, dear Lord, let it be."  There is within all genuine believers a fervent desire to draw closer to God because of God's indwelling Spirit.  Do you know it is God's will for every person to have a closer walk with Him?  He will not refuse this request, seeing it is Jesus who has sought us out.  If we plead for a closer walk with Jesus and do not take intentional action - to daily walk closer to Jesus - do not expect this prayer to be answered.  Scripture teaches us Jesus will not refuse or cast aside anyone who comes to Him in faith.  It is we who refuse Him.  Let this sink into your soul.  Instead of including God in our activities, thoughts, and service, it is we who exclude Him.  He has brought us into His own forever family, but we are the wanderers, the forgettors, the ones mired in the love of worldly things.  Let us not pine away for what God has already given because we refuse to take baby steps of faith to walk in obedience.

Do you want a closer walk with Jesus?  It is yours if you are willing to walk with Him.  Take intentional steps to seek God and invite Him into your day.  If we truly value time with God, then we will seek Him as a treasure hunter seeks precious gold.  We would continue to pursue Him even as His love pursues us.  Let us not be as married couples who forget the importance of the loving pursuit of their spouse.  Should we put on weight and grow soft because the thrill of the chase is over?  We cannot be content with our current knowledge of God when there are many things He wants to say to us today!  God, keep me from worldly loves and affection which rob us of time together!  Cause me to take intentional steps to follow you daily - no matter the cost - for you are worthy of all honour, glory, and praise.  Thank you for providing strength through the Holy Spirit to accomplish your will, that I and all those in the Body of Christ would daily walk closer with you!

Holy Hands

At church this Sunday we sang the words, "We raise up holy hands to praise the Holy One, who was, and is, and is to come."  As hands rose throughout the congregation, my heart filled with joy.  The act of raising holy hands is one of faith, for not one person can claim personal perfection.  Our holiness is not our own, but the righteousness of Christ imputed to us.  David was right when he wrote in Psalm 24:3-6:  "Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? Or who may stand in His holy place? ⁴ He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, nor sworn deceitfully. ⁵ He shall receive blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation."  There is no man who can claim sinless perfection but One:  Jesus Christ.  It is by His grace we lift hands now made holy, washed from sin in the pure blood of the Lamb by faith.

Raising hands during prayer and worship is not intended to draw attention to self, but to the Holy One who has forgiven and redeemed us from sin.  It is an interesting fact the scriptures always speak of raising hands - it is never singular but plural.  To me raising both hands speaks of full surrender.  It is an act of faith to raise both hands in adoration and service to the God who fashioned them and cleaned them.  Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 2:8, "I desire therefore that the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting."  Inward holiness ought to be revealed in outward piety and obedience to God, living in the way that fully pleases Him.  This too is only accomplished through His grace and a willing heart in submission to Him.

Has your heart been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ?  Then lift up holy hands without wrath and doubting, having cleansed your hands from idolatry and deceit.  From Christ we have received redemption and cleansing, and now offer up praise to the One in whom we live, breathe, and have our being!

Love Greater than Pain

After I came home from hospital, it happened my morning readings were in the book of Job.  This was impeccable timing, because whenever I read Job his suffering dwarfs mine in a matter of sentences.  A sore, surgically-repaired knee is nothing compared to what Job faced!  When pain hits hard it prompts soul-searching and questions.  There was no rational reason for the theft of his herds, the consuming fire from heaven, nor the collapse of the home of his son and subsequent death of all his children in one day.  There was no human answer for why Job's health failed so suddenly and the severity of his suffering.  Job's brilliance was revealed in the midst of his suffering, not by the absence of it.

Job never allowed his pain to reflect poorly upon the character, purity, and righteousness of God.  What happened to Job was wrong, but Job refused to charge it to God's account.  He acknowledged he had freely received good from God and it would be hypocrisy to refuse evil.  Job's suffering was severe.  He was in so much pain he wished he had never lived at all!  He was willing to trade all the good times - the blessings, his family, experiences, riches, friends, everything - to have the privilege of never being born.  Most have never suffered to such a degree, that they would give up memory of all good things they love and enjoy to have never known anything.  Job loved and trusted God, yet his pain was such he would have been content in that moment to have never existed.

Pain leads to self-revelation, and it is also refining.  It has the potential to bury us in self-focus or spurn us to praise and glorify God who is always good, no matter the struggles or pains we face.  I believe Job had a proper view of God. a vision seldom experienced by people today.  We have a benefit Job did not have, in that we can observe how God restored him in the end.  We can allow the fact that Job was restored by God to help us through our difficult seasons, but that is not what brought Job through.  He had no such hope, no precedent.  Here is the point:  Restoration or future benefit should not be what inspires us, but only a vision of God Himself.  Job's pain led to a deeper revelation of God.  Should pain provide a window to a greater vision of God even without physical restoration, we have been graced with a gift beyond compare.  We ought to love the Giver more than the gift. Through Christ, our love can be greater than pain.

A World of Pain

The Bible tells us in heaven there will be no more pain.  Yet alas, on this earthly side of heaven, we are guaranteed pain.  Pain, sickness, and sorrow are consequences of sin, and as long as we live in this body of flesh, pain will be a part of life.  Even Jesus, a man who never sinned, was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.  He experienced the full range of human pain:  physical suffering, mental anguish, emotional hurts through rejection and betrayal, and spiritual separation from the Father on the cross.  If God should see fit to allow His own Son to suffer and die for the sins of the world as a demonstration of divine love, then pain for those who have received His love need not sting so badly.

It is a truth that often pain must be inflicted before restoration and healing can be experienced.  When I tore my ACL and meniscus in May, it hurt.  Walking was slow and painful.  My knee was stiff, sore, and swollen.  If I twisted it the wrong way or banged it into something, shooting pains told me immediately what I did was not good!  Almost two months have passed and there is no swelling and virtually no more pain.  But there is still a problem.  My anterior cruciate ligament - the major stabilising ligament in the knee - is still gone.  This means I am at high risk of doing more damage to the knee joint and ligaments which are not so easily repaired.  Doing nothing means a certainty of arthritis!  Because of my relatively young age and active lifestyle, surgery is the only way to replace the ligament.  This means today I will be stuck with needles, have my skin cut with a knife, tools will be shoved through keyhole incisions, and a drill will go clear through the bone.  Thankfully I plan not to be conscious during this process!

My point is, some pains and injuries we suffer in life - physical, emotional, and mental - will not get better on their own.  Our greatest pains come from being cut off from a relationship with God because of our sin.  We must come to the place of disturbing the very source of the pain to administer a restorative cure.  I could live with a completely ruptured ACL, but I would have to protect and favour my injured leg.  Even after just two months my other knee has started to hurt because I have been walking slightly off.  Doctors are not healers, but God is.  God is the One who can heal and restore us back to a close relationship with Him.  Even in our physical pain He brings comfort, knowing our pain is not without a purpose.  It is when the pain is too great we are willing to seek help.  Exploring or poking around in my damaged knee without a new ligament to attach would be intensely painful and only cause more scar tissue.  That is all worldly wisdom can accomplish when it comes to a wounded and guilty conscience.  God offers assurance, forgiveness, hope, peace, and love.  God does more than acknowledge our pain, but sets us on a course for healing and salvation.

Today I am heading for a world of pain, but pain isn't always a bad thing.  It is often the door we must pass through to greater revelation, peace, and comfort only God can supply.  It can be the first decisive step to healing and restoration.  Praise God He knows our pain, and in His compassion can do everything to make it work for good!