Psalm 119:175 One Road, One Purpose

When I drive for rideshare, I've learned to be intentional in how I go about it. I've studied the rideshare market here in Columbia and I know where and when the best passengers, the ones seeking good long trips that will pay the best, are most likely to be found. So I drive during those peak times and intentionally park in the spots most likely to be near those passengers.

I could be like a lot of rideshare drivers, who spend their time driving around town, constantly on the move, hoping to get lucky and be in the right place at the right time.

I used to be one of those drivers, when I first started driving rideshare. Until I realized I was just wasting gas and eating up all my potential income. Sometimes I really would get lucky and get a lot of calls for rides. But more often the rides I got weren't that great and my income was hit or miss.

For most people, daily life, moment-by-moment life, is lived unintentionally. We go about our days by habit, led by routine, with no grand purpose other than making it to lunchtime, going home at 4:00, eating three meals a day, working five days a week, and escaping the routine on the weekends - often just replacing the weekday routine with the weekend routine.

We think all that unintentional living will somehow satisfy us, but it seldom does. At best it numbs us, turning us into caricatures of what God intended us to be.

Even a lot of Christians seem stuck in their unintentional lives. The only difference is they added Sunday church attendance and a few other church-related habits. Maybe they've also adopted an unhealthy taste for Pharisaical moral judgment and politics.

Whether spiritual or non-spiritual, the vast majority of people traveling alongside each other on the road of life seem to have stumbled into one of these unintentional ruts.They stay there because they don't realize there's a better way. They've become satisfied with the happenstance rewards of unintentionally living.

But there is a better way. There is a reason for living, a purpose for the journey.

David waited until the second to last verse of his trip diary to spell it our for us.

Let me live that I may praise you,
 and may your laws sustain me.

Psalm 119:175

God didn't give you life so you could spend it stumbling blindly along, with no vision, without purpose. He gave you life and He sustains your life so you can fulfill His greatest intention for your life: that you may praise Him.

The reason for continuing the journey is to praise God with every choice you make. A life spent pursuing anything else is pointless.

The goal is not a destination. Yes, God has promised eternal life with Him in heaven. But that's not the goal of the journey. The goal is to praise God along the way.

Praise Him with your voice of worship. Praise Him with your voice as part of your daily conversation with your fellow travelers.

Praise Him on your knees in prayer. Praise Him with your hands and feet as you walk through your days among people who have no purpose.

Praise Him by loving each of your fellow travelers who are unaware they're also seeking God. Praise Him by helping them, listening to them, counseling them, encouraging them. Praise Him by keeping your spiritual senses attuned for the divine opportunities He puts along your pathway to plant and water and cultivate seeds. Praise Him by being the light in the world's darkness, by letting your words be seasoned with salt.

If that sounds like God is asking a lot of you, He is. That's why He made you a new creature, re-creating you to do the work He has prepared for you.

And He doesn't expect you to do it alone. He'll send other intentional people to walk and work alongside you.

And He'll continually turn your attention back to His Word, His laws that are not only written in a book but have been inscribed on your heart. The laws can help you by reminding you in hundreds of ways how to intentionally live to praise Him. They sustain you and keep the pilgrim progressing.

Intentionally.

Psalm 119:174 Delight

I long for your salvation, LORD,
 and your law gives me delight.

Psalm 119:174

I continually long for salvation.

I long for your salvation, Lord, when I'm in a rut. The road of life is filled with ruts. When I realize I'm stuck in one, I go back to God's Word, where you save me from my doldrums with a renewed perspective and purpose.

I long for salvation, Lord, when I'm feeling alone. Even surrounded by people, I often feel like no one looks at life the way I do. When I'm having a personal pity party like Elijah, I take time out to listen for the still small voice of God. It's often just a simple phrase, a verse, or a forgotten story from His Word that delights me all over again, and fills me with feelings of love and community.

I long for salvation, Lord, when I feel overwhelmed by the people I encounter on this road we're all traveling. Sometimes they're just too much. Too much rudeness and too many sharp opinions. Too many voices clamoring to be heard, even if all they have to say is memes and snark and flippant remarks. An over-abundance of us vs. them and a drought of empathy and kindness. Your Word, though, keeps me centered in your holiness and lovingkindness. It trains my eyes to see the world the way you see it, filled with people longing for your salvation, just like me.

I long for salvation, Lord, when changes descend on my world too quickly. Nothing stays the same. My comfort zone keeps moving around when I'm not paying attention. My job changes. Or my career of four decades comes to an abrupt end. I'm getting older, and countless physical changes accompany aging. More than once in my life, my circle of friends has dissipated overnight. And then I take a step back and revisit your never-changing but always new Word. I delight in seeing how the old, old story speaks to my new situations in surprising ways.

I long for salvation, Lord, when I've failed you miserably. When my hands are dripping with blood, my heart is hardened with apathy, and my mind has been corrupted by the world, it's then I long for your salvation. I can manage the mess I've made. I can pretend to care again. I can try to hide from the lure of the world. But only you, Lord, can clean my hands and soften my heart and transform my mind. Only you can restore delight to my soul.

Psalm 119:173 Choices

May your hand be ready to help me,
 for I have chosen your precepts.
Psalm 119:173

God is ready to give a helping hand while you're traveling the road of life.

Are you?

Are you ready to help people make the most important choices of their life?

When I first wrote the previous question, it was Are you ready to help people make the most important choice of life? But it should be choices.

The difference is vital.

In 1978 I made a choice of whom to marry. It was a very good choice, one I've never regretted. 

I've made the choice each and every day since then to continue being married. I keep making that choice because choosing to be with her and stay with her is part of choosing His precepts.

We've chosen many times to be patient with each other. We've chosen to support one another, to be honest with each other, to never talk smack about one another to other people. We've chosen repeatedly to communicate, to make decisions together, to make time for each other.

When we went through heart-rending times as foster parents, we agreed together to choose to not let the stress tear apart our bond, but to make the hard choices that would cement our bond even tighter by working through the tough times together.

Everything that's important in life requires making a choice. And making that choice again and again.

God has always been there with us when we're making choices. Even if we skipped a few days or weeks, forgetting to live intentionally and choose intentionally, He chose to hang in there with us, waiting patiently for us to choose again.

God's precepts are also always there when we're making those choices. It can become all too easy to fall out of the habit of making good choices, but making the good choice to meditate on God's precepts every day is the best way to stay on track or get back on track.

Another good choice to make, and to remake every day, is the choice to help others make good choices.

I used to think my job as a Christian is to convince people to choose to believe and be baptized, and once I did that I could move on to someone else.

That's so short sighted.

There are people I encounter every day who need to be encouraged to make good choices in small ways. As a rideshare driver I regularly encounter people who need just a little piece of advice or a word of encouragement about relationships, their job, their children, or their choices about setting boundaries.

I could easily rationalize that I'm just there to give them a ride and I shouldn't get all up into their business. And I don't butt in. I don't force myself into their lives. But I do make the choice to ask the kind of questions that prompt them to open up a little. God and I can use that window to help travelers along their way toward discovering His heart.

Because that's the destination. That's where we're all headed to on this journey of life, whether or not we all know it.

We're returning to the heart of God.

And we're in it together.

Today is the First Day of the Rest of My Life

 

This catchphrase has never been more true for me than it is today. 

41 years after being hired by Carol Clark to unload trucks and manage the storeroom at Columbia Regional Hospital, I find myself without a job. For the first time in over four decades, I woke up this morning and it wasn't a weekend, it wasn't a vacation day or sick day or personal day, but I didn't have to go to work.

When you've followed the habit of the 40-hour week/8-hour day for several decades, the routine can get to be a drag. It was kind of nice this morning to get up early, go to the pool at the gym, and spend nearly an hour and a half working out, never wondering what time it was getting to be.

It sounds, I know, like the description of someone on his first day of retirement. That might happen for me in four months or two years or five years, but that's not why I'm unemployed.

I got laid off from my job. Thanks to COVID-19, my career ended short of qualifying for full pension benefits. I'm getting paid my full salary through the end of 2020, which relieves some urgency. Nevertheless, I find myself job-seeking for the first time since April 1979.

For today, though, I just want to enjoy the freedom and contemplate what to do with the unscheduled and non-routine days ahead.

 Not focused on yesterday

Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13-14

For the past four decades my primary focus has not been on my job. I've never been a company man or a career climber. There have been a few times I'm sure my bosses have wished I would be more dedicated to the job.  But it was never true.

Sure, I cared about my job. During the past two weeks that they kept me around to finish out my time, I was surprised to discover how much I do care about both the minutiae and the big picture of my job.

But I've always had two motivations for working. One of those was to support my family. The other was to have the freedom to do whatever God had in store for me.

As a follower of Christ, my real career has always been to follow him, leaning hard into whatever tasks and purposes he put before me. That has meant teaching, preaching, counseling, small group leading, worship leading, mentoring, servant leadership, subversive following, foster parenting, home schooling, writing, campus ministry, prison ministry, and church ministry.  And also going to work every day, whether at the office or in my rideshare car, always staying attuned to divine appointments to share the world's God-colors and God-flavors with the people I've encountered.

Sometimes I've done a poor job of pursuing that career. Some of my co-workers who have known me best are the ones who know that best.

But as I begin the rest of my life today, no matter what it winds up looking like from a job perspective, I can't help but wonder what the Lord has in store for me next.

The goal to win the prize that Paul says he's pressing on toward in that verse from Philippians is not heaven. Yes, God is calling Paul - and me, and you - heavenward. But the goal and the prize are the things he mentioned in the previous verses. 

3:8  the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord 

3:9   and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ 

3:10   I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death

That's the goal. Yesterday, today, and tomorrow, I want to know Christ and to become more like him.

Seize Today

So teach us to number our days, That we may present to You a heart of wisdom. Psalm 90:12

The chief portion of wisdom I've learned about numbering my days is that every day is number 1. If yesterday I made a mess of representing Christ to my world, today is Day #1 of starting again. If I did a great job of knowing Christ yesterday, I can't settle in and count on yesterday's success. Today is still the first day.

My routine for today is all shot, at least in terms of my job of 41 years.

My routine for Day #1, though, is clear. 

• Dedicate today to the Lord. Exodus 32:29
• Deny myself today, take up my cross, and follow Jesus. Luke 9:23
• Keep my ear tuned for whatever God wants to teach me today. Proverbs 8:34
• Eagerly study the scriptures today. Acts 17:11
• Look for opportunities to encourage whoever God puts into my path today. Hebrews 3:13

I just did that last one by inviting you to join me in intentionally making today the first day of the rest of your life, pursuing the only goal that lasts.

In the day of prosperity be happy, But in the day of adversity consider— God has made the one as well as the other. Ecclesiastes 7:14

Psalm 119:172 Rigtheousness

May my tongue sing of your word,
 for all your commands are righteous.

Psalm 119:172

A few things I've learned about God's righteous commands during my travels on the one road:


All of God's commands are righteous because they all reflect the righteous heart of God. When I learned to focus my study and prayer on knowing the heart of God, rather than on dissecting the commands, obedience and faithfulness became much easier.


Time spent in the Word led me to God's commands about righteousness and purity, like II Timothy 2:22

Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

Moral purity has always been a struggle for me. Oh the joy of realizing I should stop obsessing about those evil desires. I've learned instead to pursue purity by pursuing a pure obsession with God's heart of righteousness, faith, love and peace.


I spent years trying to prove I possessed all the right opinions about all the right things. After I learned to stop taking so much pride in my opinions, I then got off track by becoming obsessed with demonstrating how I had reconsidered those opinions and now was in possession of a better brand of right opinions about the right things. Our obsession with being right is so difficult to shake.


I still remember the day I actually understood II Timothy 2:15 for the first time, after having considered it one of my favorite verses for years.

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. (II Timothy 2:15)

It shocked me when I realized how stupid I've been, only paying attention to the last part of the verse. Correctly handling the Word of truth is extremely important, but that's not the point. The goal isn't to prove my correct understanding of the Word of truth. It's to step up and present myself as a willing worker, approved by the blood of Christ. Only through doing the work given to me by God will I begin to correctly handle the word of truth.


It's not about carefully accumulating the right opinions. It's about training to be a workman after God's own heart.


The more I've allowed myself to walk alongside people whose beliefs and experiences are different than mine, God has proven this statement to be true:

The fruit of that righteousness will be peace; its effect will be quietness and confidence forever. (Isaiah 32:17)

I used to looked at those others as people to either avoid, tolerate, or correct. The fruit of my self-righteousness was arguing. I saw my job as letting them know I'm part of the "in" crowd and they're not, an attitude that only leads to belligerence and arrogance.

But once I learned to trust God and His righteous commands, I learned to see my interactions with the others on the one road as opportunities to bring out the God-flavors and God-colors of life.

Psalm 119:171 Tell It

I grew up with the sure knowledge that I was blessed to have born into a family that went to the right church and knew the right things. . . If the Truth was a place, we were already there. Our task was to bring people to the same place we were.

That's a quote from People of the Book, the blogpost at the beginning of my three-year-long trip diary through Psalm 119.

No doubt, I was blessed to have been born into a family that taught me to love God and His Word. For all the misdirected teaching and the self-righteousness of the "right church", I was getting a better start on the one road of life than most of the people I've encountered traveling alongside me over the past 60-plus years.

And no, I'm not talking about the "faith-only Baptists" or the "annual-communion heretics." I'm glad to claim many of them as my brothers and sisters and co-workers in Christ.

I 'm talking about the young lady in her 20's who admitted she had never been to church, not even once in her life. I'm talking about the 30-year old woman who admitted that the first time she was sent to prison was the first time in her life she had a bed of her own she could count on to be there each night. I'm talking about the co-worker who gave lip service to faith but had been raised in a streetwise culture of 'grab whatever you can whenever you can'.

Another thing that church taught me was about the greatest mission anyone could possibly have in life. Sure, the way I understood it back then ("our task was to bring people to the same place we were") was condescending and misdirected. But I've never lost sight of the lifelong call to be a reconciler, drawing people toward Christ (not to my church or my personal theology).

All of those people - all the others, the fellow travelers who aren't like me - they're all on the same road, traveling alongside me. They're all heading toward the same destination, whether they know it or not. That doesn't make me better than them. It doesn't mean I should avoid those other people and stick with the travelers who are like me.

My job is to help them all understand why we're all on this road together. If I don't tell them, they'll just keep on thinking we're all just plodding along aimlessly from birth to death.

I can't help them understand unless I'm actively, eagerly, and intentionally walking beside them, helping them along the way.

My job - your job - is to let our lips overflow with praise for the God who is also walking alongside us all.

May my lips overflow with praise,
 for you teach me your decrees.
Psalm 119:171