05/18/2025
Do we spend an inordinate amount of time trying to achieve the perfection of Jesus Christ and too little time just living out our daily lives like He did? Are we wrapped up in searching for some hidden meaning in God’s Word at the expense of just living out the obvious things scripture 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. Are we doing this? Are we reading scripture with the open minds of children?
“Behold the birds of the heaven, that they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not ye of much more value than they?”
Matthew 6:26 ASV
The mysteries of faith are interesting, but they can become distractions as we go about doing the everyday things of that selfsame faith... they can become a false god and make our faithful life more about our own personal quest for understanding than the gift of God that it is. The scripture we just read isn't telling us to lay back and not do anything for ourselves... quite the contrary.... it is telling us to "just live!"
A few years ago, a winter storm had moved in Nashville 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 intended 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... it is a windfall... it might be an unexpected revelation in a seemingly simple verse of scripture. God rewards us for living our lives for Him and in doing those things He has taught us in the manner He intended us to do them.
There are stories about royalty who live lives of great wealth and position and then find themselves cast into poverty. They have trouble eating and living because everyday life and food are beneath them. Inevitably they will come to understand that real life was never about the excess in which they used to live, but rather, it was about the joy that was found while living the simple life of everyday people. They come to realize that they had been existing in a world out of touch with reality and had lost sight of the pleasure of “Just living."
Like the birds we are meant to work at reaping what God has sown for them, and like the young prince in the book 'The Prince and the Pauper', we should realize the value of everyday life despite the circumstances we long to find ourselves in. Birds will occasionally find a place in the field where the farmer has spilled grain, and the man of common faith will surprisingly find a deeper meaning in a scripture he has read many times before, but in both examples the basic truth is found by "just living"… by living out each day in whatever life God has provided. We can become so fixed on looking for that one spot of spilled grain, or those hidden meanings in mysterious scripture, that we lose sight of what God has provided and to "just live"... if we live for what might be found then the birds might go hungry, and as men we can lose sight of our tried and true faith in God.
“Delight yourself in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in him, and he will act.
He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,
and your justice as the noonday.”
Psalm 37:4-6 ESV
Pastor Oswald Chambers wrote about those who live a life of faith every day, and whose lives are not predicated upon longing continuously for the great moments of revelation and faith. He spoke of "just living" our faith when he wrote...
"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 establish us and teach us that Jesus did great things... and that He lived a simple life of faith. Jesus taught that we should "just live" out our faith.
“Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?””
John 11:40
Prayer:
Father, thank you for the life and faith you have given me. 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 to be satisfied with what you have given me as I do so. Holy Father, keep my feet on the path of righteousness as I walk with Jesus and let me rest where He rests, pray where He prays, and find you present where He finds you. When my eyes open with the dawning 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 away by selfishly seeking more than you provide... because that is my vanity, and in this way I lose sight of you. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you my God who gives me what I need when I need it. Holy are you who gives me the manna of faith fresh each morning and provides me drink in abundance when I thirst. For these things and more, my daily bread, leading me from temptation, and all providing my every need, I thank you, praise you, honor you, and give you all the glory forevermore. Hear this my prayer and help me to lean on you and love you with all that I am. Hold me close Abba, and do not let me listen to, and be tempted by the world as it encourages me to lean on my own understanding. Great are you, even in the simple things, and for them I am thankful today and evert day. Merciful and full of grace are you my provider. I thank you always for providing me food when I am hungry, drink when I am thirsty, clothes when I am naked, and a home that keeps me safe against the storms, warm in winter, and cool in summer. You never miss a single need I have, and for this I honor and give you glory always. Hear me as I sing Hallelujah, and claim Amen to every righteous prayer that your Holy Spirit leads me in.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! AMEN!
“2 My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot be moved;
he who keeps you will not slumber.
7 The Lord will keep you from all evil;
he will keep your life.
8 The Lord will keep
your going out and your coming in
from this time forth and forevermore.
Psalm 121:2-3, 7-8 ESV
Rich Forbes