THE INCORRUPTIBLE WORD

THE INCORRUPTIBLE WORD

    Everything in this present world is, to use the biblical phrase from Romans 8, under the "bondage of corruption" - God's great curse because of human sin. The apostle Peter points out that the inorganic world is composed of "corruptible things”, such as silver and gold (1 Peter 1:18).  But so is the organic world, which is based altogether on "corruptible seed."  The term "corruptible" simply means "decaying" and this ever-present corruptibility is essentially what scientists have called the law of increasing entropy (also known in science as the “2^nd Law of Thermodynamics” (heat motion)).  The word “entropy” carries with it the idea of “disorder”.  This “tendency to disorder” can be observed in many everyday occurrences.

a)    A house or apartment can get messy and disordered all by itself.  It takes a planned effort, coupled with actual work, to reverse this tendency and bring the dwelling place back into a state of order again.

b)   A pile of bricks will never assemble itself into a brick house, by random actions such as wind, rain, earthquakes, cooling/heating, etc.  But a brick house will fall into a pile of bricks, given enough time, under the action of the same things.

c)    A transmission from your local TV station gradually gets contaminated with static and distortion, and eventually becomes unwatchable.  “Information” gets lost.  The party game of “telephone” is an illustration of how correct information can get overpowered and contaminated with noise. 

d)   A hot object cools off all by itself.  But an object never gets hotter all by itself.  Heat never flows from a cold object to a hot one, making the cold one colder and the hot one hotter, unless energy is pumped into the system.

e)    Any living thing ages and finally dies.

  So that’s the nature of this world.  But God has promised that he will create a new Earth one day.  Then, there will be no more curse (Revelation 22:3) “This corruptible must put on incorruption" (I Corinthians 15:53).  Those who will inhabit the new Earth will have been "begotten . . . again, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that does not fade not away” (1 Peter 1:3-4).  Everything in the new Earth, including you and I, will be incorruptible. 

     But to return to this present world in which we live: Albert Einstein once said that in all the known universe there is no known exception to the 2^nd law of thermodynamics.  Therefore, everything in the present Earth is corruptible.  But there is one exception! – an exception that Albert overlooked.  It is by this exception that we who were born under the bondage of corruption were translated into the incorruptible world of everlasting righteousness.  What is that exception?  The incorruptible word, the Holy scriptures.  The scriptures reveal the living Word, the Lord Jesus Christ, through which a believer is born again, and is instructed in righteousness, and is sanctified (set apart).

(1 Peter 1:23) “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.”

(Psalm 119-89,111,152) “Forever, 0 LORD, Thy word is settled in heaven. ... Thy testimonies have I taken as a heritage forever...  Concerning thy testimonies, I have known of old that thou hast founded them forever.”

"Heaven and earth shall pass away”, said the Lord Jesus, "but my words shall never pass away." (Matthew 24:35).

How indescribably precious is our Bible, the written Word of God!  The one and only thing in the entire world not subject to the laws of decay.

So what’s the golden nugget in this discussion?  This: know that when you hold your Bible in your hands, you are holding something that has within it a source of eternal power, an inner radiance that never diminishes.  Psalms 119:105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path.  A lamp that never dims, a light that never fails.  Our Bible has come down to us across the centuries, error free, in spite of endless copying, and hundreds of translations.  This, therefore, is wisdom: to hold the word of God in our hearts, to read it daily, to memorize those passages that speak to us most powerfully, and to let it be the compass of our lives.  Psalms 119:11 Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee.  Only the never-decaying power of God’s word can protect us from the decaying power of sin and evil. 

In closing, ask yourself this question.  Do you personally cherish the privilege of reading the Bible?  Many people in this world have no such opportunity.  To read the Bible (assuming they can even find one in their language) is to risk persecution, even imprisonment or death.  To sincerely desire the pure milk of God’s word is one of the marks of the true Christian.  Anyone who does not thirst for its living water is overdue for a serious self-examination. We are like cups with holes in the bottom – we need to be constantly refilled, or we quickly run dry.  So if you are able, take your Bible, grasp it, lose yourself in its pages, drink deeply of its living water.  And you will grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Here’s a couple of extra golden nuggets.  If you want intimacy with God and you want to be assured of his presence and his closeness, then open your Bible to Psalms 139 and immerse yourself in this wonderful chapter.  You will sense that God is closer to you than your very breath.  Next, if you want to know what happens to you after you die, then immerse yourself in First Corinthians 15, and be assured that God has every intention to one day release you from the bondage of corruption that all of us experience in our earthly bodies, and remake us into something beautiful and incorruptible.  The incorruptible word can sustain us throughout our lives, and show us the way to eternal life.

A WORLD WITHOUT CHRISTMAS

A World Without Christmas

     All of us are so into Christmas, with the gift giving, the decorations, the church services, the panicky shopping, Santa Claus, flying reindeer, Christmas music, that we forget how really dependent we are on this celebration to add meaning to our lives.  It doesn’t matter if we are Christians, Jews, Muslims, or any other kind of folk, we tend to schedule our lives to mesh with it - we plan our gift giving (especially the kid’s gifts), our work schedules, our get-togethers and our eating arrangements.  It’s easy to get into the habit of Christmas, to take it for granted, even if it seems stressful at times.  But - let’s consider the question: What would the world be like if there was no Christmas?   Sometimes the best way to understand the necessity and importance of an event is to suppose that it never happened and then examine the implications.

     No Christmas?  Well then, what does that mean?  Perhaps it only means that Matthew and Luke left out the biblical nativity stories from their gospels, and little is actually known about the birth of Jesus, and so we just don’t celebrate the birth of Jesus at all.  Perhaps Christians only celebrate Easter.  Our lives would not be very much different.  Christian theology might be very much the same as it is now, except possibly our understanding of the importance of the virgin Mary might be different. 

     But a more extreme situation would be: Jesus never appeared, he was never born, and no one ever appeared on the scene of history that remotely resembled the individual the prophets of the biblical Old Testament spoke about.  God never tried to reach out to mankind in a close personal way.  Let’s take a few minutes to consider this question. 

Immediately we can say: Certainly the flow of history would have been vastly different. 

1) The Bible’s Old Testament, if it even existed, would be a collection of myths, legends, and the musings of dreamers.  The best part would be the various histories and the nice sentiments set forth in the Psalms and Proverbs, but the books would have no real power, because most of their prophecies would be about an event that was never to happen.  But if God had no intention of sending a Redeemer/Messiah, then there might not have been any prophecies at all, as God may never have favored the Jews, never intending to use them to bless all nations, and never spoke through any prophets.  People like Moses, Abraham, Isaiah, Daniel, David, and so forth may never have appeared on the pages of history.  And if the Old Testament was actually written as we have it today, with dozens of prophecies about a coming Redeemer, it would be totally discredited – because the anticipated Redeemer never showed up.

2) We would not have a New Testament.  The men and women who became disciples of Jesus would have stayed fishermen, tax collectors, carpenters, homemakers, etc.  Luke would have remained a doctor.  Paul would have remained a Pharisee (maybe there would be no Pharisees).  There would be no Christians to persecute.  The Roman Empire would never need to contend with that troublesome band of one-God worshipers that challenged the Caesars and rejected the Roman pantheon of gods and goddesses.

3) There would have been no Saint Augustine, no Martin Luther, no John Calvin, etc.   There would be no Christian churches, no hymns, no creeds, no sacraments as we know them today.

4) The secular elements of Christmas would be missing.  Santa Claus, reindeer, Christmas trees, Christmas gifts, greeting cards, Christmas music, eggnog and stockings on the fireplace – all these things would be unknown.

5)  The flow of the history of the western world would have been vastly different.  The barbarian tribes of Europe would never have been visited by Christian missionaries.  They would have remained steeped in idolatry and mystery religions.  Therefore, there would not be a United States, as we know it today.  No “Judeo-Christian” foundation on which to build a national constitution.  There would have been no Magna Carta, no declaration of independence.  What peoples would now live in North America and what sort of government they would have is anyone’s guess.  It’s possible that civilization as we know it might never have evolved.  No technology, no science, only tribes here and there ruled by warlords and chiefs.  Even this blog entry would not exist because the writer (P. Strom) and you the reader would never have been born -  because our ancestry and lineages would have followed paths quite unlike the paths that actually produced us. 

6)  Our knowledge of God, if we had any, would be very different.  “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father,” said Jesus.  He claimed to be our way to an understanding of God derived from a human image that was easy to comprehend.  Without Jesus, perhaps we would know God via some other revelation, creation perhaps, a different prophet perhaps, but possibly there would be no direct revelation at all, and we would be left mostly in the dark about God’s true nature.   Perhaps the idea of monotheism would have never developed, and people would still be worshiping the sun, the moon, the thunderstorm, and images of wood and stone.

7)  Our sins (if we even had such a concept) would be unforgiven, without any substitutionary redemption, without any way to have a hope of acceptance in the sight of the God we really don’t know very well anyway.  Perhaps there would be some other way of salvation, that we can’t conceive of, but that’s just a speculation.  People might just follow the musings of seers and oracles, who might claim to have revelations directly from ‘angels’ or extra-terrestrials.

8)  Any hope for life-after-death would be tenuous at best.  Death would hover over us like the sword of Damocles, a grim reality, a final end, a fall into the unknown, without any confidence that a loving God would be waiting to accept us into his presence.  Life would take on a ‘cast your fate to the winds’ character.  The most logical conclusion would be final and complete extinction.

9)  We would have no assurance that our prayers would be heard.  People, perhaps through desperation, might still try to get the attention of a god (who they aren’t even sure is actually there), and who may or may not care about individual people at a personal level.  

That’s just a few ideas about what the world would be like without Christmas.  There are certainly other consequences that one could think of.  But here’s the golden nugget in this discussion.  Simply this: ♫ Christmas really happened, ♫ and our season of celebration is founded upon real historical events.  And because of Christmas being real, we are here to celebrate an amazing fact.  That rather strange and odd fact that the Creator God of the universe chose to become one of us for a short time - and chose to be born in the humblest of circumstances - no trumpets, no white horses (that comes later), no attendance by the privileged and elite (they tried to kill him), no elaborate processions of fancy dressed people.  But in total fulfillment of around 400 (some say) biblical prophecies and inferences.  The setting?  Some simple shepherds that probably smelled like their sheep, a humble teen aged girl and her somewhat bewildered fiancé, hopefully a midwife or two, a cave that doubled as an animal stable, and a feeding trough for a cradle.  Also, there was an unusual star, a few angelic appearances, and a visit (a couple of years later) by some wise seekers from Iraq or Iran (more than one, but not necessarily the traditional three).  But the humble beginning, in an obscure location, revealed only to the commonest of people, was how God chose to reveal himself.  That way, the simple and humble folk of the world would have no trouble relating to him.  Only the proud and arrogant would disdain him. 

So here we all are: the beneficiaries of that very important event in the history of the world: Christmas.  Our very lives in this present world, and our relationships with God, are made possible by the reality of that event.  So we can share our fellowship, partake of delicious food, exchange gifts, decorate Christmas trees, put up model villages and electric train sets, listen to and sing beautiful music, attend Christmas church services, and just absorb the love and good vibes of the season.  And for the Christian, our lives take on purpose and meaning, and our destinies are sealed in the will and providence of a loving God.

And when we pray, we can be confident that a loving God cares about the details of our little lives, and is there to accept our worship and our gratitude, and who will weigh our requests in his balances.  Hopefully, this look at the world without Christmas helps all of us to appreciate how important and wonderful the celebration of this event really is. 

A MODERN PARABLE

Jennifer Went to College.

(Preface: The young woman in this piece (Jennifer) is fictional. But her experiences are drawn from those of real people, including the author, who have actually had to deal with the very things that confronted this young woman.)

Jennifer was accepted at a major university. Which one is not important, because the same things would have happened to her at any big university, anywhere in the world. She began her studies in fine arts and literature, hoping one day to teach. Jennifer came from a rural mid-America town, raised in a loving small-town Christian conservative family. She had attended a small Baptist church and over the years had been active in Sunday School, choir, youth groups, and Bible study classes. She was always a bright-eyed little lady, outgoing, confident in her faith, ready to give her Christian testimony whenever the opportunity presented itself. Guess what? As the weeks and months passed during her college days she felt herself being broadsided. Broadsided? What does ‘broadsided’ mean? This: she met and interacted with a lot of people – fellow students, teachers, advisers, and work associates (Jennifer had a part-time job at the student union cafeteria). She also kept in contact with ‘friends’ on social media. Some of the people she met were fine individuals, intelligent and admirable - and she found herself liking many of them.

But - here’s what some of them did. They saw Jennifer carrying her Bible, going to church on Sundays and attending student-run Bible study groups. They noticed that she politely refused to take part in off-color jokes and gossipy chit-chat. Her impeccable grooming, her fine study habits, manner of speech, and confident attitudes were noticed – behavior that made some of her non-Christian associates uncomfortable. So, over the course of weeks and months (years too), some began to communicate to her, either directly, or by subtle innuendos and remarks, that her Christianity was childish, ‘cute’ perhaps, but narrow, old-fashioned, and most certainly: make-believe. Eventually she found herself in deep, and often contentious, discussions about her faith. She was confronted with an assortment of classical objections to her Christianity:

1) God does not exist. ‘God’ is an invention, a crutch, created to help deal with the imponderable and difficult questions of life. The religions of the world are ‘projections of our desire for security and meaning’, as per Sigmund Freud and his followers.
2) The Bible is a collection of myths, questionable ‘history’, and the writings and musings of dreamers and sages, perhaps well-intentioned, but assembled by people trying to set forth a specific theistic world-view.
3) There is no divine Creator. The universe, the planet Earth, and all the life on Earth are the result of natural and physical processes at work. The Earth is the product of the natural formation of planets and solar systems controlled by the laws of physics and chemistry. Life arose spontaneously, and life as we know it today is the end product of eons of slow evolution, as per Charles Darwin’s model.
4) There no such thing as sin, only ‘coming up short’ perhaps, but no inherent flaws in human nature, and certainly no accountability to any divinity.
5) Jesus, if he actually existed, was just a nice teacher and wise sage, who never made any real claims to be divine, and who certainly never worked any real miracles, and who certainly never saved anyone’s ‘soul’. Like Buddha, Jesus was made out to be more than he really was by his zealous followers.
6) There is much evil in the world, both natural and man-caused. Hurricanes, floods, 9/11, the holocaust and the Spanish inquisition are classical examples. If there was a good God, he would prevent such things. But evil exists – therefore either God doesn’t exist, or he is evil himself, or perhaps rather powerless or simply non-caring.
7) This business of having faith and trust in a ‘god’ you can’t see is nonsense. There’s simply no reason to have ‘faith’ in ‘faith.’

Enough already? This list could be much longer. Jennifer found herself on the defensive, forced to face up to some of these time-worn objections to her Christian faith. Sadly, she discovered that her sheltered home-spun friendly church background did not prepare her for such an onslaught. What to do? Smile and say nothing? Shrug her shoulders and give up? She realized that to say nothing was a form of concession and a confession of ignorance. Worse, she soon learned that quoting Bible verses and speaking in ‘church-talk’ only got a lot of raised eyebrows and dismissive remarks, and perplexed looks of ‘what on earth is she babbling about?’.

What did Jennifer finally do? She went to see a few Christian pastors. Sadly, most had no idea what to tell her, as they were usually consumed with ‘in-church’ issues, and the idea of communicating the basics of Christianity to “secular” (non-spiritual, materialistic, worldly) unbelievers left them more than a bit befuddled. But finally one insightful pastor gave her a viable way of both defending herself and presenting ideas that could actually override many of the common objections to the Christian faith.
 
First of all, the pastor told Jennifer to recognize her own limitations. “Jenny”, she said. “You simply won’t have answers for all the objections your ‘friends’ could dream up.” The pastor-lady pointed out that answers do exist, but seldom can a young Christian have ready answers to all of them. She told Jennifer that the makeup of secular society is extremely varied, ranging from those who have absolutely no idea of Christian concepts and vocabulary – they have heard of Jesus, and maybe Moses, but that’s about it. Many are indifferent and couldn't care less about religious things. On the other hand, there are those who are very knowledgeable about Christian things, but are in a state of skepticism or rebellion. Some have experienced or witnessed abuses or tragedy in their lives or the lives of others, and are now in state of disillusionment with God and religion, especially organized religion.
 
Jennifer was counseled not to waste time with a lot of long elaborate dialogues and arguments, and also she must not try for quickie ‘sound-byte’ answers to complex questions. “Here is where you must go, Jenny,” said the pastor. “Go to the two basic doctrines of the Christian faith. First, the ‘bottom line’ of the Christian faith is: redemption,- God seeking and finding those who are lost and redeeming them. Jesus died to accomplish our redemption and the forgiveness of our sins. He went through death on our behalf to get us back into a right relationship with our Creator. Second, the authentication of the Christian faith is based on the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, the event that Christians celebrate on Easter Sunday. If you read First Corinthians Chapter 15, Jenny, you will see that the apostle Paul stakes the truth of the Christian faith on these two teachings – with the resurrection of Jesus being the final validation of the Christian faith. Paul basically says, the resurrection establishes the authenticity of the Christian faith, but, on the contrary, if the resurrection isn’t true, then – to use a common phrase - ‘we ain’t got nothin’’. But the resurrection has been examined in every detail by both Christian and secular scholars, and has become regarded as ‘the best established truth of ancient history’. A good presentation is Lee Strobel’s The Case for the Resurrection, available on Amazon.com and many local Christian bookstores. I have an extra copy in our church library that you can have. Also, reading the first few chapters of the biblical book of Acts would convince anyone that the early church accepted the resurrection as absolute truth. Here’s the critically important implication of the resurrection, Jenny: this event establishes the credibility of the life and teachings of Jesus. He is, therefore, the ‘real deal’. It follows that to ignore his teachings on sin, salvation, heaven, hell, etc. is to place one’s very soul in peril.”

“And of course, Jenny, your detractors will HATE hearing you say this to them, because, first, they usually don’t understand basic Christian vocabulary. Examples would be like, ‘saved?’ – ‘saved’ from what?, ‘resurrection from the dead’ – that sounds like fantasy fiction. But worse, they sense that ‘Jesus-talk’ carries with it a suggestion of ultimate accountability to a ‘god’, something they are extremely uncomfortable with. And some of the more informed ones will certainly counterattack with augments against the reality of the resurrection – ‘it was made up by his overzealous followers, Jesus only ‘swooned’ - he never really died, he was part of a conspiracy, have you not read the Da Vinci Code?’, etc. ‘Isn’t it true that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and settled in what is now France?’ Others might say, ‘but why do I need to be saved? I’m a good person’. Others will say, ‘There are too many hypocrites in the churches. And isn’t Christianity discredited by those brutal crusades of antiquity?’ How about this one?- ‘Is my sweet little grandmother going to hell because she doesn’t go to church, while some serial killer in prison repents and gets ‘saved’?’ And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. But, Jenny, you have to stand your ground, and insist on the truth of Jesus’ death on their behalf, and the truth of the resurrection, and do it with gentleness and respect – and a lot of patience. You will often find yourself in the teaching mode, where you might need to repeat and repeat these basic concepts of the Christian faith. There will be times when you will have to admit that you do not have a ready answer to their many and varied objections - but insist that answers do exist, and you will try to do some research. Eventually, a few just might ‘come around’, so to speak, and realize their need to know and trust God, and actually reach out and grasp God’s offer of grace. You must plant these seeds in their minds and then allow the Spirit of God to take over - and, someday, there just might be a harvest.”

The pastor-lady went on to tell Jennifer. “Of course, for your own spiritual refreshment, you must attend a good Christ-loving Christian church, like this one you are visiting now, where you will be nurtured and where you can grow in your faith. Pray and ask the Spirit of God to give you the right words to say, and keep studying, so that you can become a ‘workman that does not to be ashamed’, as per the biblical phrase. You must find some Christian brothers and sisters to hang out with, and you must maintain a personal standard of academic excellence. Have a blessed time here at college.”

So what’s the golden nugget in this story? What can we take away? This: if you are a student like Jennifer (or soon to be one), at a secular university or academy, or if you are employed (or soon will be) at a secular company, then be prepared to be challenged with various arguments by folks who are disturbed or puzzled by your Christian ethics, demeanor, and manner of speech. You might have to endure the ‘cold shoulder’, or be thought of as a ‘weirdo’ or a ‘religious nutcase.’ That goes with the territory. But you have the wonderful opportunity and privilege to ‘stand up, stand up for Jesus’ and to ‘stand in the gap’ and show forth the love of Jesus Christ to a needy world. A high calling, and certainly not the easiest road to take – but it comes with wonderful reward, one day.

A CHRISTIAN LIFE FORMULA

A Formula for the Christian Life

     During the early 80s a gentleman in the church I attend suffered a financial reversal in his business.  Times got tough for him and his family.  Happily, they eventually did recover.  One day he mentioned that a certain Bible passage had carried him through, and had been his guiding light.  This passage is one of the most important and familiar in the Bible, and is as close to a ‘formula’ for Christian living as there is in the Bible.  This is a passage that could be written on a placard or hung on a wall.  A passage worth memorizing, a passage many of us have already heard, and one that could be engraved on a bracelet or necklace, or even tattooed on our arm (if we were so inclined).  The passage consists of two verses, and has four lines.  Let’s take a look at it.

     The passage is in the Old Testament book of Proverbs.  It was written about 1000BC by then King Solomon, who was then an older man (with lots of kids no doubt, having dozens of wives and concubines, as was the practice of kings in those days).  In this passage he is giving advice and counsel to his younger sons.  This passage is like a summary: three “action items” followed by the best of all possible conclusions.

Proverbs 3: 5-6

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart

And lean not unto thine own understanding

In all thy ways acknowledge him

And he shall direct thy paths

Trust in the Lord with all your heart.

     This sounds rather basic, but it’s not always easy.  If life is good, then it would seem to be easy.  But sometimes life gets hard (job loss, financial loss, home loss, a relationship that sours, etc.), sometimes tragedy strikes (like 9/11, or the big tsunami, or Katrina), sometimes friends or family members die, sometimes we get sick or find ourselves in need of medical care, etc.  Sometimes we see other people, especially children, with advanced medical conditions and disabilities, and our hearts go out to them.  It’s human nature to ask ‘why, God’.  We usually don’t get a direct answer.  Like the patriarch Job, we are expected to trust the Maker of all Things, whose knowledge of the ‘big picture’ is vastly superior to ours.  And yet, despite our desire for reasons, trust is precisely what God demands of us.  So at those critical life moments, we are commanded to keep praying and give God our faith and trust.  We must keep asking God for wisdom and guidance, and we must not lose hope - but trust is the operative word.  And he is worthy of our trust, because he is perfectly righteous, perfectly loving, and loves us with an agape love (Greek for pure love, given without demand for return), and was willing to redeem us with his own amazing sacrifice.  As per Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

And lean not unto thine own understanding.

     The Christian faith is very simple at its surface level.  Basically, it's just this: All have sinned and come short of the glory of God - There is none righteous, no not one - But God, through Jesus, has provided forgiveness for our sins and reconciliation with himself -  God loves us, one and all, and his Spirit tugs on us, calling us to come to him for forgiveness and new spiritual life, to be ‘born again’.  It’s that simple – that’s the bottom line: redemption.  As one very big time theologian phrased it when asked by a student to sum up the Christian faith, he said, “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.”

     And yet, the Christian faith is so deep that no one can fathom it all.  There are those people who spend their entire lives studying doctrine, history, and apologetics, as well as all the other world’s religions.  Some doctrine is difficult, such as predestination, the sovereignty of God and the free will of man, the incarnation, the detailed study of the old testament, and the study of Bible prophecy as it relates to the end times.  Some doctrine is technical, like the science of creation, or the ancient languages.  But our verse tells us not to ‘lean’ (or to put too much dependency) on our understanding, but to primarily have faith and trust in God.  In other words, ‘don’t try to figure it all out’.  You won’t be able to do it.  As one famous preacher (Dr. Ironsides of Moody Bible Institute) once said, “If you try to figure it all out, you’ll go crazy.”  We are commanded to study, yes, and to equip ourselves to be good stewards and witnesses of our faith, but knowledge is mostly useful as it serves to bolster and strengthen our faith and trust.

     The fact that the Christian faith is, at the same time, both simple and profound makes it perfect for people of all intellectual levels, the simplest folk, the most brilliant, and all those in between. 

In all thy ways acknowledge him.

This means that we must involve the Lord in all aspects of our life.  Our relationships, our finances, our recreations, our politics, our pleasures, our physical issues, and our doubts and pains also.  This is probably the area of our lives where we fall short.  There must be no part of our life that we try to cordon off, rope off, or fence off, from God.  It's not really possible anyway.  As per Hebrews 4:13: Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight.  Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. 

     We must try not to have little playpens in our mind, or secret closets, or be involved in activities that cause us guilt, or activities that we would be embarrassed to show the Lord if he walked into the room right now.  The true Christian has the amazing privilege of taking all thoughts and concerns before the Lord in prayer, and as per Psalms 139 he is interested in all we do or think.  We can take comfort in the knowledge that it is quite impossible to keep secrets from the Lord, because he sees directly into our heart of hearts, past all the rationalizations, the bargainings, the excuses, our complaints, our procrastinations, and our fruitless attempts to manipulate him.  So the wise and prudent Christian tries to acknowledge the Lord in all facets, phases, and compartments of his or her life.  Our prayer must be, “Lord, examine my heart and instruct me in how to become a better Christian, how better can I honor the covenant relationship that we have”, and finally “Lord, what you want for me is what I want for me.’

And he shall direct thy paths.

     Many of us can testify to this already.  Many of us can look in the rear-view mirror of our lives and see how God has guided our footsteps.  Examples would be where we have lived, the employment we had had, the person we have married, the children we have had, the church home we have found, etc.  How many improbable ‘coincidences’ have enabled us to make the right decision at just the right time?  How many times has the Lord actually saved our very lives?  (I can think of at least five, in my own case.)  How many times has the Lord provided for us, in ways we can hardly understand?  How many unanticipated ways has the Lord used us to bless someone else?  How many times has the Lord disciplined us with a father’s firm loving “NO”?  How many times has the Lord warned us not to do a certain thing – kind a moth/flame warning, a literal command to ‘flee’ from a certain situation or from a certain person? 

     In the book of Revelation we learn the principle that ‘God opens doors that no one can close and closes doors that no one can open.’  Rev 3:8 reads, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut.   In summary, our verses tell us that God promises that if we trust him, and not lean too much on our own understanding, and to be sure to open our lives to his scrutiny and examination, he will help us follow the straight and narrow path that leads to life everlasting.  And we have his word, always at hand, from which to draw sustenance.  As per Psalms 119:105, his word will always be “a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path”.  Along the way he will give us assignments, warnings, and instructions.  And he will give us victory over hardships and anxieties, and never let us lose hope.  Here’s the golden nugget in this discussion: There is simply no better way to live.  There is simply no better way to live.