05/18/2023
Do I spend an inordinate amount of time studying and trying to be like Jesus and too little time just living like Him? Am I wrapped up in searching for some hidden treasure or meaning in His words at the expense of just living out the obvious things He teaches us? Our goal should be to follow Jesus and learn at His feet, but we can't do that unless we are walking with Him and making camp where He makes camp.
“Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”
Matthew 6:26 ESV
The mysteries of faith are interesting, and amazing, but they can become a distraction to doing the everyday things of faith... they can become a false god, and make our faithful life more about our own personal quest than the gift of God that it is. The scripture above isn't telling us to lay back and not do anything for ourselves... quite the contrary.... it is telling us to "just live!" every day.
A winter storm had moved in and snow was falling to the point that it was about to cover the ground. I sat in my kitchen and looked out the window where I noticed a flock of birds feverishly pecking the ground for food. They would work quickly then lift into the air in mass and resettle a few yards away to begin again. I watched as this scene was repeated over and over again as if their life depended on it.... which it did. God was feeding these birds, but it was up to them to eat what He had provided, and to "just live" as they were meant to do.
We should approach our lives and our faith in the same manner. God will provide for us, but we must eat what He gives. If a surprise cache of food comes along we will be thrilled... a windfall... this is the unexpected revelation in a seemingly simple verse of scripture. God rewards us for living our lives for Him and in the manner He intended us to… by depending on His provision, and leaning on Him.
There are stories about royalty who have lived lives of great wealth and position and then, by some twist I life, found themselves destitute. When this happens they have trouble eating and living because everyday life and food are foreign, and beneath them. Inevitably they learn that life wasn't about the excess in which they used to live, but rather, it is about the joy they find in living the simple life of everyday people. In wealth they had been existing in a world out of touch with everyday reality and had lost sight of "Just living." We can live out this same story in our faith too.
“Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.”
Matthew 19: 21-22 ESV
Like the birds we are meant to work at reaping what God has provided, and like the young prince in the book 'The Prince and the Pauper', we should realize the value of “just living” life despite the circumstances we find ourselves in. Birds will occasionally find a place in the field where the farmer has spilled grain, and likewise a man of common faith will surprisingly find deeper meaning in a scripture he has read many times before, but in both examples the basic truth is in "just living" the life God has placed us in until this happens. We can become so fixed on looking for that one spot of spilled grain, or those hidden meanings in scripture, that we forget to "just live"... and if this happens then the birds will go hungry, and we as men will lose sight of our true faith in God.
Oswald Chambers wrote about those who live a life of faith every day, and whose lives are not founded upon the great moments of revelation and faith. He speaks of "just living" our faith when he writes...
"The people who influence us most are not those who buttonhole us and talk to us, but those who live their lives like the stars of heaven and the lilies in the field, perfectly simply and unaffectedly. Those are the lives that mould us." - Oswald Chambers
Those are the lives that set our feet back on the way of Jesus. Those are the lives that ground us and teach us that Jesus did great things... but that He did them as He lived a simple life of everyday faith. Jesus taught that we should "just live" out our faith. Are we just living as He did?
“I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”
Philippians 4:12-13 ESV
Prayer:
Father, thank you for my life and faith. Thank you for your Word that teaches me how to live every day, and to have confidence in your provision. Lord help me to just live out my faith each moment of every day and be satisfied with what you give me. Holy Father, keep my feet on the way as I walk with Jesus and let me rest where He rests, pray where He prays, and find you where He finds you. When my eyes open in the morning of every new day let them be fixed on you and your Word. Then, as I live out your will for me, do not let me wander into seeking more than you provide... because that is my vanity, and in that I lose sight of you.
Rich Forbes