A Way of Life
Sticking with things is hard, isn’t it? It’s one thing to say you want something or talk about how you’re going to finish that thing or get to that place, it’s a whole other thing to actually do it. I’m the king of starting books. It’s the getting to the end that I struggle with.
“Whoever diligently seeks good seeks favor” (Proverbs 11:27a). The Bible is filled with adverbs that imply persistence and a form of consistency as a way of doing life. Seeking after good is easy to do once, but one who seeks with diligence is someone who makes it a practice.
I heard an interesting thought at church the other day. The pastor said, “if only people would come to know Jesus just by the words I say. But that’s not how it works, they come to know Him by observing our actions.” Saying you believe something is like starting a book, the finishing the book comes through a changed way of living.
This is a process, and one that takes time. In the above phrase, “diligently seek,” which word stands out the most? Of course, seeking is imperative, but the way in which we seek makes all the difference. Jesus came not to turn us into robots, but to introduce to us a new way of life.
What is a way of life – it’s how you live your life. And how you live your life is shown through your actions. If you were to hear someone describe another as a good person. What does that mean?
Well, it doesn’t mean that he or she did one good thing in their life. It means the way they have strung together decisions and actions over a period of time has looked to those around them as something resembling what is right and good. Now, you can be introduced to a new way of life in a single moment, but it takes a multitude of moments to show that way of life to others.
See, we all are “living” our life. There’s nothing that stands out by being in a room of people where everyone is breathing with hearts beating – that’s a given. What stands out is the how you are living. And “how’s” require descriptions and descriptions are written over time, out of a place of choosing something over and over again.
Friend, how would you describe your way of life? Maybe even take a moment to write some things down. I have two questions as you look over your descriptions: First, is this the way of life you would like to be living? Second, would others around you use these same words to describe you?
What I don’t intend here is to lead us to a place of being ruled by the opinions of others – not the point. But knowing how a few people close to you see you, can function as helpful information as we practice assessing whether we are showing people around us actions that line up with the words we’re using to describe what we believe.
God’s intention was never to imprison us to a list of do’s and don’ts. He came to give us life abundantly. The person of Jesus revealed many things, one of which was a new way of life. So, friend, what is your way of life? Let’s practice together getting to the end of the book – to not only seek the Lord, but to seek Him with diligence.
