As I've personally contemplated the thoughts of last week's blog, I've been encouraged by how simple this life can be if we'll major in the only necessary thing...being vitally connected to our God - uninterrupted communion / interaction with the One who has it all! The Psalmist tells us...The law of the Lord is perfect...His testimony is sure and makes the simple wise." The book of James says it this way: "Ask and He'll give generously...draw near to God and He'll draw near to you...humble yourselves before Him and He'll lift you high!" Boy, do I ever need the "lift" that only God can give...Jehovah, my glory and the lifter of my head!
Eugene Peterson speaks profoundly to this...and I leave you with his words:
Many people think that what's written in the Bible has mostly to do with getting people into heaven...getting right with God, saving their eternal souls. It does have to do with that, of course, but not mostly. It is equally concerned with living on this earth - living well, living in robust sanity. In the Scriptures, heaven is not the primary concern to which earth is a tag-a-long afterthought. "On earth as it is in heaven" is Jesus' prayer.
Widsom is the biblical term for this on-earth-as-it-is-in-heaven everyday living. Wisdom is the art of living skillfully in whatever actual conditions we find ourselves. It has virtually nothing to do with information as such, with knowledge as such. A college degree is no certification of wisdom-nor is it primarily concerned with keeping us out of moral mud puddles, although it does have a profound moral effect upon us.
Wisdom has to do with becoming skillful in honoring our parents and raising our children, handling our money and conducting our sexual lives, going to work and exercising leadership, using words well and treating friends kindly, eating and drinking healthily, cultivating emotions within ourselves and attitudes toward others that make for peace. Threaded through all these items is the insistence that the way we think of and respond to God is the most practical (and I would add the only necessary thing) thing we do. In matters of everyday practicality, nothing, absolutely nothing takes precedence over God.
O that we all could be riveted to Him in a way that would find us always satisfied, sufficient and adequate for all things. ...How we need Him...selah....
After His Heart,
Mitch
