“How can a young person stay pure? By obeying your word.”
Psalm 119:9 NLT
One of the questions that we all face is how we might walk in God’s ways effectively and authentically. While a critical issue when young and a new Christian, it’s a question I still carry with me today. I know that sin is not something any one of us talks about naturally. I’m not sure how often I have really talked about it honestly. Who is best to talk to? How can I ensure my shameful secrets are not shared with another? The challenge of sin is that we internalise it, then seek to bury it. Yet, this is not to deal with it.
God’s commands are in place for a reason. How seriously do I take them?
If I seek to learn a new craft, I have to attend to it carefully. Years ago I attended a wonderful cooking course. For me, the best part of it wasn’t the recipes, rather it was the tips I picked up such as how to recover a split sauce or prepare a meal for 20 people by partially pre-cooking certain elements. I love cooking and these features have been woven into my practice.
Scripture is the source of God’s commands. They are not simply to fill the mind with truths. They lay out a path along which we are to move. As an integrated human being, my legs carry my body along that path, my lips proclaim my commitment to that path and my mind thinks through how I am to navigate that path. Our challenge is in deciding how effectively God’s word crafts a way along which we can live our life. It’s not in perfecting our prayer or our service that obedience lays. It is in how we live our complete life.
God’s way is the common way for every disciple. Therefore, there is value in comparing notes with others. Where are the battles that I face, and where are those that you are facing? There is learning together, for walking God’s way is the walk of the community.
QUESTION
Consider those aspects of your life that fall outside of God’s way. Who can you talk to about this?
PRAYER
Lord, may your Church be a place where we can grow as disciples together, dealing with our sin and growing in our love.
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