A Life Worthy

Tag: a life worth living

  • One-a-Day Tuesday, 9/30/14

    number 1Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise… (Ephesians 5:15).

    If you follow Christ, the world will not understand you.  More than that, the world cannot understand you.  John 1:5 says, “The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.”  That light is Jesus, and if he lives in you then you are a mystery to the world around you.

    Knowing that, riddle me this: Why do you keep trying to do things the world’s way?  Why do you follow the world’s advice, or try to impress the world?  It’s never going to work, so give it up.

    Paul says that we must be very careful to live in wisdom. That seems to indicate that, if we are not on our guard, we will naturally fall into the unwise patterns of the world.  We must stand fast in the wisdom he has given us, the wisdom that looks like foolishness to the eyes of the world.

    Embrace your inner enigma, Beloved.

  • One-a-Day Monday 9/29/14

    number 1Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.  (Eph. 5:11)

    Good things generally need light in order to grow.  Sure, you can grow some things in darkness—mold, mildew, assorted fungal yuckiness—but not the good stuff.  Apples, raspberries, peaches, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control—these need light.  What “Fruitless deeds of darkness” are you having something to do with?  Hey, you don’t have to tell me—I’m not running a tabloid here.  But ask yourself—what do you have in your life that is fruitless?  What fungal yuckiness are you growing in the temple of the Holy Spirit?  It doesn’t have to be raging evil.  I’m assuming that you’ve never stolen a baby or sold your mother on eBay.  But if God isn’t part of what you’re doing, if the Light of the World is not invited along, then it’s darkness.  It’s fruitless.  Pull it out by the roots—or better yet, ask God to do it.  He won’t “accidentally” miss anything.  Expose it to the Light, and let it wither away.

    Let today be trash day, Beloved.

  • One-a-Day Friday, 9/26/14

    number 1And thus ends a week of C.S. Lewis poetry.  Thank you for indulging me as I shared a few of my favorites.  I hope you found them as worthwhile as I.

    After Prayers, Lie Cold

    Arise my body, my small body, we have striven

    Enough, and He is merciful; we are forgiven.

    Arise small body, puppet-like and pale, and go,

    White as the bed-clothes into bed, and cold as snow,

    Undress with small, cold fingers and put out the light,

    And be alone, hush’d mortal, in the sacred night,

    –A meadow whipt flat with the rain, a cup

    Emptied and clean, a garment washed and folded up,

    Faded in color, thinned almost to raggedness

    By dirt and by the washing of that dirtiness.

    Be not too quickly warm again.  Lie cold; consent

    To weariness’ and pardon’s watery element.

    Drink up the bitter water, breathe the chilly death;

    Soon enough comes the riot of our blood and breath.

  • One-a-Day Thursday, 9/25/14

    number 1It’s time for Thursday with C.S. Lewis!

    Have you ever really considered what Lazarus gave up when Jesus called him forth from the tomb?  It was more than we can comprehend.

    Stephen to Lazarus

    But was I the first martyr, who

    Gave up no more than life, while you,

    Already free among the dead,

    Your rags stripped off, your fetters shed,

    Surrendered what all other men

    Irrevocably keep, and when

    Your battered ship at anchor lay

    Seemingly safe in the dark bay

    No ripple stirs, obediently

    Put out a second time to sea

    Well knowing that your death (in vain

    Died once) must all be died again?

  • One-a-Day Wednesday, 9/24/14

    number 1C.S. Lewis Week—Day Three

    Prayer

    Master, they say that when I seem

    To be in speech with you,

    Since you make no replies, it’ all a dream

    –One talker aping two.

     

    They are half right, but not as the

    Imagine; rather, I

    Seek in myself the things I meant to say,

    And lo!  The wells are dry.

     

    Then, seeing me empty, you forsake

    The Listener’s role, and through

    My dead lips breathe and into utterance wake

    The thoughts I never knew.

     

    And thus you neither need reply

    Nor can; thus, while we seem

    Two talking, thou art One forever, and I

    No dreamer, but thy dream.

     

    He understands you better that you do, Beloved.  Enjoy your Wednesday with him.

  • One-a-Day Tuesday, 9/23/14

    number 1Here it is, Beloved—Day 2 of C.S. Lewis week. 

    I must admit…I identify with this poem far more than I would like.

    Pilgrim’s Problem

    By now I should be entering on the supreme stage

    Of the whole walk, reserved for late afternoon.

    The heat was to be over now; the anxious mountains,

    The airless valleys and sun-baked rocks, behind me.

    Now, or soon now, if all is well, come the majestic

    Rivers of foamless charity that glide beneath

    Forests of contemplation.  In the grassy clearings

    Humility with liquid eyes and damp, cool nose

    Should come, half tame, to eat bread from my hermit hand.

    If storms arose, then in my tower of fortitude—

    It ought to have been in sight by this—I would take refuge;

    But I expected rather a pale mackerel sky,

    Feather-like, perhaps shaking from a lower cloud

    Light drops of silver temperance, and clover earth

    Sending up mists of chastity, a country smell,

    Till earnest stars blaze out in the established sky

    Rigid with justice; the streams audible; my rest secure.

    I can see nothing like all this.  Was the map wrong?

    Maps can be wrong.  But the experienced walker knows

    That the other explanation is more often true.

  • One-a-Day Monday 9/21/14

    number 1I’m a big C. S. Lewis fan.  His apologetics are inspired, and Narnia is the home I long to find someday.  Recently, I have rediscovered his poetry, and I want to share a bit of it with you this week.  No, it isn’t Scripture—but it will definitely make you think about the One who loves you.

    Legion

    Lord, hear my voice, my present voice I mean,

    Not that which may be speaking an hour hence

    (For I am Legion) in an opposite sense,

    And not by show of hands decide between

    The multiple factions which my state has seen

    Or will see.  Condescend to the pretense

    That what speaks now is I; in its defense

    Dissolve my parliament and intervene.

    Thou wilt not, though we asked it, quite recall

    Free will once given.  Yet to this moment’s choice

    Give unfair weight.  Hold me to this.  Oh strain

    A point—use legal fictions; for if all

    My quarrelling selves must bear an equal voice,

    Farewell, thou hast created me in vain.

    Beloved, did you ever wish that God weren’t quite such a gentleman?  That he would back off just a bit on the free will and force us to be the person we want to be and only sometimes are?

    Yeah…me too.  It seems we are in good company.

  • One-a-Day Friday, 9/19/14

    number 1Though you have made me see troubles, many and bitter, you will restore my life again; from the depths of the earth you will again bring me up. (Psalm 71:20).

    Sometimes life is hard.

    In case you hadn’t noticed.

    I’ve noticed recently that several people in my life are going through brutally difficult times.

    And I have a fairly small life.

    So much pain.  So much sorrow.  So much fear.  Sometimes I’m even afraid to pray for these people because I get caught up in it, swept up in it, and I feel like their pain will pick me up and carry me away.  And I want to help, but I know that there’s nothing I can do because I’m just Michael, and that’s really not so very much.

    But then I read this verse.  I think back on yesterday’s verse.  I remember the troubles, many and bitter, that God has brought me through.  I remember that I am restored.

    Redeemed.

    And I know that, as painful as these times are, they are not eternal.

    They may feel eternal…but that is a lie.

    What is eternal, Beloved of Christ, is you.

    And Him.

    And you and him.

    So remember, dear friend, that you are a child of promise.  And that promise is as strong and sure and certain as the One who made it.

    He will lift you up.  Believe it.

    If it helps…I’ll believe it with you.

    Happy Friday, Beloved.

  • One-a-Day Thursday, 9/18/14

    number 1Your righteousness reaches to the skies, O God, you who have done great things.  Who, O God, is like you?  (Psalm 71:19).

    My name is Michael, in case you didn’t know.

    The name Michael means, “Who is like God?”

    I gotta admit, when I was a kid I thought the name was a statement, “One who is like God.”  It did wonders for my ego.  When I found out it was actually a question, it took me down a peg or five.

    But really—how cool is that? Every day, all the time, my own name reminds me that there is no one greater, no one stronger, no one with more authority over this universe than the One who loves me.

    The One, by the way, who loves you.

    Remember that as you head into your Thursday.

    Walk in confidence, Beloved.

  • One-a-Day Wednesday, 9/17/14

    number 1Since my youth, O God, you have taught me, and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds.  Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your might to all who are to come (Psalm 71:17-18).

    A life spent with him.

    Do you remember when you first came to Christ?  I was nineteen years old, and for the first time everything made sense.  I read my Bible cover to cover within the first month of being saved. I felt a freedom and a strength I had never known.  I was off on an adventure, and I was coming home—all at the same time.

    Twenty-many years later, I see the power of his love working in and through me.  I’m not yet the man I want to be, but I have learned the wisdom of Popeye—I yam what I yam, and his grace has not been without effect.

    The day is coming when the salt will outweigh the pepper.  My body will be old, though I will probably still act like a ten-year-old and make my daughter roll her eyes.  I trust that God will hold me tight even then.  I will get to look back on a life lived with him, and I will pass the torch to my children and theirs knowing that the One who has been faithful to me will continue to work long after he has taken me home.

    Kinda cool, when you think about it.  Sorta gives perspective.

    It’s Wednesday, Beloved.

    Enjoy the journey.