I DON’T know who said, but it is in my list of favorite quotes: “The sum total of the wisdom of the ages, is to find out which way God is going and walk with him.” It was probably said in some sermon and I just wrote it down, kept it and logged it in my list, forgetting where it came from; but I refer to it often and could attach several scripture passages to proof text it. For example, Paul, when he was Saul, thought he was walking with God when he was persecuting the church, but his encounter with Christ on the Damascus Road proved him wrong. It is truly foolish if not tragic to go counter to God’s purpose and direction, – all movement is not progress if it is in the wrong direction.
I RECALL a trip Cindy and I were on once, deciding to take a different back road journey home from one of our Yellowstone excursions. Rising early in the morning we mapped our course and headed out. Enjoying the road and passing countryside, being much relaxed, Cindy fell asleep. After awhile she woke up, looked at her watch; then looking out the side window being a little disoriented asked, “How long have I been asleep, shouldn’t the sun be on that side?” Well, she wasn’t disoriented, I was. Being a little caught-up in the serene joy of the drive I took a wrong turn (with my navigator sleeping, it was actually her fault) and got completely turned around. Instead of heading south, we were on our way back towards Wyoming! Oops! Of course, we had to keep driving until we could find a land marker, a road sign that told us were we were, so we could figure out how to get were we needed and wanted to be. (This was before iPhones and navigator apps!)
“The sum total of the wisdom of the ages is to find out which way God is going and walk with him.”
And He is taking us “in Christ,” in whom we live and move and have our being in a particular direction, further into Christ. This is the importance of knowing God’s Purpose contained in this fourth chapter in Principles of Spiritual Growth. As we saw last week, Rom. 8:29 is key to understanding this, and 2Cor. 3:18 is critical in our comprehension as well.
“But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” (II Cor. 3:18).
AS our author will say below, it is one thing to know what God’s purpose is for our lives, but it is quite another to know something of the “how” as to entering into that purpose in the here and now.
PAUL writes in Eph. 5:15-16, See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. We wasted a lot of time and gas on that day I took us in the wrong direction. Probably saw the countryside fly by a little too fast trying to recapture lost ground and make up time getting to our next appointed destination on that road trip. Had I been paying better attention, or my partner been awake to keep me out of trouble …., well, as Paul puts it elsewhere, “…work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. (Phil. 2:13) There are many little lessons of life, metaphors that reminds us of the truths our Lord wants to teach us to stay focused, alert, on the correct road, going in the right direction, with Him!
WELL, I went a little long today. But as our author is going to point out below, even our failures are opportunities for learning.
In the wondrous blessings of Christ,
Joe
Neh. 8:10, Isa. 30:15 & Job 2:10
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Chapter 4—Purpose – Part 3
“But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” (II Cor. 3:18). It is one thing to know what God’s purpose is for our lives, and it is another to know something of the “how” as to entering into it all right here and now. One of God’s most effective means in the process is failure. Many believers are simply frantic over the fact of failure in their lives, and they will go to all lengths in trying to hide it, ignore it, or rationalize about it. And all the time they are resisting the main instrument in the Father’s hand for conforming us to the image of His Son!
Failure where self is concerned in our Christian life and service is allowed and often engineered by God in order to turn us completely from ourselves to His source for our life—Christ Jesus, who never fails. We are to rejoice in our need and hunger of heart, for God says, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled” (Matt. 5:6). As we, in our abject need, consistently and lovingly look upon our Lord Jesus, who is revealed to us in the Word, the Holy Spirit will quietly and effortlessly change the center and source of our lives from self to Christ—hence for each of us it will be “not I, but Christ” (Gal. 2:20). ….to be continued.
