A CLEAR FOCUS in life is essential for achieving our desired outcome(s). If we are pursuing a vocation, then education, job search, hiring, training, and assignment become logical steps in our sequential pathway towards achieving our goal. Anything that deviates from this diminishes or destroys our objective by altering our path. A step to the left, perhaps like taking a vacation from training, or a step to the right, maybe an unavoidable health crisis, finds us either scrambling to get back on path, or defining a new way forward—with perhaps a different destiny. Such are the unpredictables of life—we make our plans, and the random circumstances of change affect us for good or for ill.
Our spiritual life is both the same and different than this. The same, because we all make plans, and they are oft-times frustrated by our limited ability to predict the future. Different, because we become, if we are sincere Jesus-followers, increasingly aware of God’s sovereign and providential intervention in our plans. “In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.” (Prov. 16:9)
Understanding how our Father sets not only the course of our steps, but also the individual stepping stones, comes with our dedicated sacrificial forms of obedience. Paul tells us that we are “to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God” (Rom. 12:1), and that by doing this a process begins in which we “will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Rom. 12:2) In knowing his will and trusting his will, the doing of his will becomes not onerous, but a nurturing of soul and spirit in growth towards Christ-likeness.
Jesus-following leads to Christ-likeness, and those who are like Christ are called into the ministry of Jesus and our part in what Peter calls “a royal priesthood, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” (1 Pet. 2:9) The author of the Book of Hebrews speaks to the fellowship aspect of this universal Christian faith community. “Since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings.” (Heb. 10:21)
This ‘full assurance’ is a Godly vision cast before us that is not subject to the myriad idiosyncrasies of life in linear time. Instead, our path is enlightened by the eternal nature of the truth of God’s kingdom of heaven, already present in promised form now. Hebrews continues, “Let us hold *unswervingly to the hope we profess,” that is, stepping neither left nor right, but intentionally walking straight ahead, “for he who promised is faithful.” (Heb. 10:23) If “God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind” (Num. 23:19), then we can place our full trust in his expressed will. In Proverbs we are told, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” (Prov. 3:5-6)
This life becomes most clear when viewed through the lens of eternity, and the desires and plans of this life change when they are informed by eternal core values. The two values most consistent with eternity begin here and now, and Jesus tells us exactly what those are. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. And love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matt. 22:37, 39) And it is the clarity of the second that reveals the reality of the first. “For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.” (1 John 4:20) Our unswerving loving filial obedience to our Father carries with it the responsibility to see the Father’s will expressed in the life of our brothers and sisters in the faith family. The Hebrew’s author strongly emphasizes this obligation. “And let us consider how we may **spur one another on toward love and good deeds.” (Heb. 10:24)
Each of us is indeed our brother’s keeper. We find this imperative in both O.T. and N.T. in the stories of either Cain and Abel or the parable of the Good Samaritan. (cf. Gen. 4:8-12; Luke 10:30-37) In the latter, Jesus commands “Go and do likewise.” (Luke 10:37) That is, care for your brother or sister. Yes, care for them physically, but more important than that, care for them spiritually. This is for their benefit, but more importantly for the glory of God. In respect to both body and soul, James tells us “My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.” (James 5:19)
Do not be afraid to carefront your brother or sister in error, nor shirk the duty to care for their physical needs. And lay aside, as much as honestly possible, concerns about your own inconsistencies. The Lord will help you with this, as he did Peter. “But I have prayed for you, (your name here), that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” (Luke 22:32)
Q. How narrow and level is my path?
*Strong’s 186 – “unwavering,” is nuanced by Louw-Nida 31.80 – “wavering in one’s faith.”
**Strong’s 3948 – “to provoke, incite, irritate,” is nuanced by Louw-Nida 90.55 – “to cause people to love and to do good.”
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