Reluctant Retiree

For my morning walk, I walked along a river and through some woods. It was beautiful on this gorgeous day. I thought about how I am so fortunate to live so near to such wonder.

Then I thought about how God created the heavens and the earth with only His word. Such grandeur came out of the mind of God.

That led me to consider that although He created the sun, moon and stars, He cares about me. I have nothing to offer Him by way of gifts or anything of value to Him. Yet He loves me. I know this because He sacrificed His only Son so that I could know His salvation. The Creator of all things cares for me! What a wonder!

How close is too close? Well, that obviously depends on what we’re talking about. We like to have our loved ones as close as possible. A foul smell we prefer to be as far away as it can be. An exceptional dessert we will bring near, while an approaching car we run from.

So things we keep away the things we dislike, are offensive in some way, or present a danger. We bring desirable things near.

Of course, I have not mentioned all the things that we should put far from us, nor the things that we should draw near. James 4:7-8 gives us the ultimate advice in this area. It says, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”

It is clear that we should stay away from evil. How do we do that? We must resist the devil in the power of the Holy Spirit. Then, the promise says, he will flee from us. It is also clear that we should draw near to God. How do we do that? We must have clean hands and pure hearts. Trust in the forgiveness Jesus offers and follow Him.

When I am walking on a new trail, I have to keep a lookout for signs. A well marked trail keeps me on the right track. Otherwise I could get lost and face unexpected dangers.

Don’t you wish life was like a well marked trail? When we faced a decision, all we would have to do would be to look for the trail signs and follow them. Instead what I find is all types of distractions that want to take me away from the right path. We all face distractions like forbidden pleasure, evil desires, lies, and pride.

I have found one reliable source that helps me stay on the right path, that is God’s Word. When God gave me life, He had already designed the right ways for me to follow. He even wrote them down in the Bible, so that I could follow the signs and stay on the right path. He even promised to go with me and help me along the way. Look at these verses that describe the path that we should follow:

“He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.” Psalm 23:3

“Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long.” Psalm 25:4-5

“You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forever more.” Psalm 16:11

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” Psalm 119:105

“In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make straight your paths.” Proverbs 3:6

These are some great promises. I especially like the ones about fullness of joy and pleasures forever more. However, the promises are only true for those who stay on the right path as defined by God in His Word. I don’t know about you, but I want to be the beneficiary of these promises. So I am asking God to help me see the signs and follow Him.

We don’t get a newspaper or watch television much. I get my news updates online from a variety of sources. It is difficult to discern what is true these days. Different sources report the same event from a variety of viewpoints, seemingly always with a particular agenda. One thing I have noticed in all these sources is a reliance on celebrity viewpoints and opinions. It seems that we are expected to value celebrity opinions more than others, even more than experts on occasion.

Personally, I am not swayed one way or another by celebrity. If I want financial advice I go to someone who has demonstrated competence in this area. The same goes for medical advice. I go to a doctor, not someone who played one on TV.

So when I need spiritual advice, I don’t go to a celebrity guru or a famous speaker. I go to someone who has demonstrated competence in a life of righteousness. James 3:13-15 says, “Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.”

Be careful where you get spiritual advice. Put a higher value on good conduct than on celebrity.

We spent most of the day watching two of our grandsons play sports. Our 15 year old grandson threw the discuss and shot put in his league championship. This is his first year participating in these two disciplines. He was able to make up for his inexperience with innate ability to do pretty well. However there were struggles in the process as he learned.

Our nine year old grandson played Little League baseball today. At this age there are lots of walks, errors and strike outs. All of the boys are learning the game and the skills.

Both boys are learning the value of endurance. To get better, they have to persevere and practice. They will struggle at times but should improve with continued effort in the right direction.

We all need to learn these lessons. Life is filled with struggles and troubles. What we do with these problems will determine the kind of person we become. James 1:2-4 says, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

So we grow, mature and improve the hard way, by persevering through the struggle and testing. Knowing the positive end result allows us to be joyful in the process.

I go for an extended walk most every morning. I do this in the early morning, often before the sun comes up. So it is dark and I have to watch my steps. I don’t know about your neighborhood, but the sidewalks around here are uneven at best. In my old neighborhood I tripped on uneven sidewalks several times causing falls and skinned arms and legs. So I have developed the habit of looking down when I walk. That, too, can be a problem. I could easily run into something.

God tells us where we should focus our attention while we are walking through life. In the book of Hebrews, He tells us to keep our eyes on Jesus, the “author and perfector of our faith.” Jesus has set the example for us to follow and, because we are weak, He has given us His Holy Spirit to empower us to follow Him. In Colossians 3:1-2 God also instructs us on where our minds should be focused; “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.”

So looking down may not be healthy for us physically. For our daily walk of life we should be looking at Jesus to know the way that we should go, while keeping our minds focused on heavenly things.

Throughout my life I have not been good at receiving discipline. When those in authority find it necessary to discuss my shortcomings, I immediately put up a wall. Oh I listen respectfully, but my heart and mind are raising all kinds of excuses. After a period of calming down, I can usually see the merits of their discussion. Often I am even grateful for what they had to say as I understand how the discipline can help me to be better.

It is sad that many times today people mount a full scale counterattack when properly disciplined rather than attempting to learn from it. With social media, these counterattacks do a lot of damage.

Sometimes God finds it necessary to discipline us. He loves us and wants us to become more Christ-like, so when he sees our destructive behavior, he tenderly but firmly leads us back to righteousness. Hebrews 12:5-6 says, “And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? ‘My son,do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.'”

So just as parents discipline their children because they love them, so our heavenly Father disciplines His children out of His great love for us. We need to recognize this and try to learn from it.

As I was walking this morning, I watched a duck swimming in the canal. It wasn’t moving fast, but still created a wake in the water. The wake started in a point directly behind the duck and spread out in a v-shape.

I doubt very much that the duck understood its impact upon the water. In the same way, we rarely understand the impact that we leave behind us. The reckless driver leaves a wake of fear, anxiety and anger as he weaves in and out of traffic, nearly causing several accidents. The angry customer leaves behind confusion and distress. However a single act of unexpected kindness creates a trail of joy and hope.

As we go through our day, we leave a wake for others to wade through. By showing kindness and love, we leave a path of good works and positive thoughts. On the other hand, anger and thoughtlessness creates a wake of pain and suffering for those who follow.

Ephesians 5:1-2 says, “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” We have a choice as to what kind of wake we leave for others. We can submit to God and leave a sweet smell for those who follow. Or we can leave the stench of selfishness and ingratitude.

Although I walk almost every day, my wife and I walked a trail that was new to us today. Of course, we had the advantage of someone going before us and marking the trail, evensmoothingoutthesurface. The pioneers did not have this advantage. The made their own trails in the wilderness before them.

In life, most of the time we are following the trails that others have forged. We benefit from the experience and knowledge of our forerunners. And we should take advantage of their counsel.

However sometimes we have to blaze our own new trail. We may be the first in our family to attend college, for example. Or we may have some new product or business idea that requires an entrepreneurial spirit.

The Bible tells us the stories of several people who were pioneers. God called Abraham to leave his family and home to go to a place he had never been before, but a place where God promised to bless him. Moses was called to lead his people through the wilderness to the Promised Land. Paul, Silas, Barnabas, Timothy, and others were called to take the gospel to far away places.

Did these Biblical pioneers have all the answers before they began their journeys? Of course not! They simply heard the call and obeyed, believing God’s promises.

I believe that God is calling each one of us in a similar way today. He wants us to leave the familiar so that He can give us even greater blessings. Read Paul’s words about his journey and let them inspire you to pioneer a new path with Jesus. Philippians 3:12-14 says, “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Jesus Christ has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”