FORGET NONE OF HIS BENEFITS, volume 8, number 53, December 31, 2009
He who pursues righteousness and loyalty finds life, righteousness, and honor, Proverbs 21:21.
Three Actions to Ponder in the New Year
Sometime ago the Pugh Foundation ran a survey of people who lived to be at least one hundred years old, asking if given the chance to live their lives over again, would they do anything differently? Those conducting the interviews gathered the data and discovered three neglected activities people said they would do if given another life to live. [1]
These follow the words of Proverbs 21:21 where the writer is laying down worthy pursuits. He says that one who pursues, one who makes his life goal to live in obedience to God’s word (that’s what righteousness is), and who also consequently acts with loyalty or fidelity toward those in his life, to those with whom he has some kind of covenant relationship—marriage, parent-child relationship, employer-employee relationship, church membership, etc.—finds a long, fulfilling life; experiences God’s smile on his life, and is esteemed by friend and foe alike.
What are these three neglected activities? The first mentioned is setting aside large chunks of time to be alone, to read, to pray, and to think deeply about important things. The second is to invest one’s life in people, especially those in great need. And the third is to take risks. They were not talking about financial risks in the stock market. Instead they meant not playing it safe, venturing into uncharted waters, attempting things with a huge “upside” and “downside.”
The longer I live, the more I read about the great saints of the past, and the more I observe the ravages of modernity on our psyche and spiritual state of mind, soul, and body, the more convinced I am of the need to slow down, intentionally to set time aside daily to cultivate the inner spiritual life of heartfelt devotion to Christ. Indeed, Jesus is your glorious Savior and Lord but He ought also to be your greatest and best friend (John 15:14, Proverbs 18:24). The Biblical discipline of solitude is almost non-existent in today’s western Christian, and surely this is to our detriment.
And many of you who work in the corporate world and face the stresses commensurate with it, knowing that your company expects you to make the “bottom line” profitable for the shareholders, need to understand that if this is your reason for being, then you will sooner or later succumb to the popular notion of “burn out.” Jesus said, “For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it,” (Luke 9:24). In a business context where it is “all about the money” it is vital that you develop the ability to give your life to other things—to the poor and needy, to inner city children, to people of developing nations. I have long suggested to my sons and others that they give at least one week per year of service to the poor here or abroad. Such has a wonderful ability to refocus us on what really is important.
And as you grow older the natural tendency to “play it safe”, to draw back, to not venture into new relationships or new projects, simply to maintain the status quo, makes it vital that you invest your time, money, and experience in projects and people beyond your comfort zone. Upon your retirement, until your health deteriorates, you ought to give yourself to things much bigger than taking walks on the beach, traveling extensively for personal pleasure, or spending all your time and money on yourself. You were created by God to serve Him, to number your days (Psalm 90:12) which literally means to add them up carefully like an accountant doing an audit. After all you will give an accounting at the judgment seat of Christ, being recompensed for your deeds in the body, according to what you have done, whether good or bad (2 Corinthians 5:10). Our great Judge will not be impressed with our selfish pre-occupation.
Practically speaking, as we begin a new year, I challenge you to ponder these three actions. Why not purpose, by God’s grace, daily to spend private time, solitude, with the great lover of your soul! Don’t let anything get in the way of it. Picture the Lord Jesus sitting in a chair in your den, waiting to commune with you. Don’t disappoint Him. The moment you arise in the morning do what I learned from John Stott many years ago—greet God by saying, “Good morning, Father. Good morning, Jesus my Lord. Good morning, Holy Spirit.” Read His word, worship Him, confess your sin to Him, thank Him for all He has done for you, and humbly make requests of Him. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you one thing from your Scripture reading that day. Two or three things may be hard to remember, but as one thought grips your soul, you can easily remember it and meditate on it at various times during your busy day. Rekindle the first love you once knew many years ago when He opened your eyes to show you your need and His sufficiency. Start with fifteen minutes. Discipline yourself with this, and before long you will find a desire to go longer with God. To be sure, your times with God, like mine, will ebb and flow. Nonetheless you can begin to see a growing love and purposefulness in your communion with Christ.
Second, why not give a few hours each week, or a week each year, to the poor and needy in your community and world! Why not give time to mentor inner city teens or adolescents. Why not give an hour each week to help young children learn to read. Why not serve meals once per month at a homeless shelter. The opportunities are endless. We all have an innate desire to be selfish, to hoard our time, money, and affections; and the longer we live we can become cynical if we are not careful. We can prejudge all people of various ethnicities as lazy or worse. Instead of grouping everyone in the same category, instead of allowing your innate selfishness and cynicism to dominate you, why not give yourself to others in need, especially children in poor communities. After all, they did not ask for their circumstances.
And third, why not hold your money and time more loosely. Ask God to give you the grace to engage in “sanctified foolishness”. If you are not tithing to your church, begin immediately. If you are already tithing, why not increase your giving one percent per year. If you are not giving a Faith Promise to your church for world missions or if you have resisted pledging money to a Christian worker, go ahead, take a risk, forgo your next vacation, and invest in Christ’s kingdom. Your money will do you no good when you die, and probably the worst thing you can do is leave too much of it to your children. Unless they are very unusual, they will probably squander it anyway. We all must come to the place where we take seriously the promise of the Lord Jesus when He said, “Give, and it will be given to you, full measure, shaken down, pouring into your laps,” (Luke 6:36).
Now is the time to make changes. Will you more purposefully and intentionally live for others! Practice solitude, give yourself to something bigger than yourself, and take risks. Happy New Year!
[1] B.J. Weber made this comment at a Hartford Society meeting on November 18, 2009.
FORGET NONE OF HIS BENEFITS is a weekly devotional by Reverend Al Baker, pastor of Christ Community Presbyterian Church in West Hartford, Connecticut.
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