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Words to Live By

THOUGHTS:I have found that over the years I have developed a handful of concepts which can each be expressed in a word or a succinct phrase and which have become the basis upon which I make every decision in my life. Together they make up the guiding star which informs every ethical and behavioral choice with which I am confronted. I can take you pretty closely to the week of my life or the specific experience that galvanized each of these concepts into moral life guidelines. I am writing this to induce you to ask what your particular guidelines are, to put them in writing, and to begin to see that all of your life conforms to them. My main counsel is to be certain that each of them is thoroughly and completely biblical! So here are the words, in the order in which they became operative principles in my life, that I [seek to] live by:

1) WWJD – I detest the jewelry, the bookmarks, and the bumper stickers. They took my very first life principle and cheapened it. They took what was sacred to me and made it another Christian marketing ploy to enlarge the coffers of whatever enterprising person or company realized the fiscal benefit of taking advantage of our Christian tendency to trivialize our faith with trinkets and apparel instead of incorporate it into our lives by thoroughgoing obedience!"What Would Jesus Do?" indeed!! Could you imagine if we simply applied this simple dictum to every decision we made, asking the question honestly, listening for the response openly, and then applying the answer completely and without hesitation. Of course, to answer the question accurately demands a well-founded understanding of the probable response of our Lord to each and every situation in which we might find ourselves. It demands daily saturation in the Gospels. But after all, isn’t it "Jesus Followers" that we are called to be?

2) Above Reproach – This is one of the requisite characteristics that Paul applies to being an overseer. The word (or words – there are actually a couple) gives the idea that there is nothing in our lives that could serve as the basis for any accusation. This doesn’t speak of motivations, but of conduct that is above or beyond the scope of any negative comments. Even under scrupulous examination, nothing could be found that would serve as the foundation for a critical reproach. That is squeaky cleanness! Could you imagine running all of our decisions and activities through the grid of above-reproachness!?!

3) What does it look like? – This is the question that dominates all of my Bible study. Whatever teaching or command I come across, I immediately ask what it would look like to live out that teaching in the context in which I live, and what would it look like to have an entire community of people live like that. I want nothing that I read in the Word to remain on a strictly theoretical, theological, doctrinal plane…I want to ask and know what it looks like to put all of these things into practice, to live them out.

4) Attentive and Responsive – All of my “duties" as a Christian can be summed up with these two terms. First I am to be attentive to the voice and the proddings of My Lord. He always takes the initiative; I always adopt the posture of listener/learner/responder. That is why I focus so much on the spiritual disciplines. It is imperative that we develop our spiritual attentiveness! Then my duty is immediate and full response to what I have read/heard/seen. That is what walking is the Spirit is all about – paying close attention to the Spirit who guides us, then immediately taking the step that He indicates. Two necessary safeguards to living this way are to know the Word well, and to live life out in community. That will keep us from excess in our responding!

5) Intentionality – This really sums up the previous 4 “words". None of them are just going to happen. You are not going to instinctively walk as Jesus walked, or live an above reproach life, or contextualize all biblical teaching, or live in close harmony with the nudgings of the Spirit. Each of these practices and decisions has to be an intentional choice. And that is basically how we live our lives…choice by choice by choice throughout the day, intentionally responding to the Spirit, walking as Jesus walked, maintaining an above-reproach lifestyle as we contextually implement all of God’s gracious instructions!

6) Intimacy – This has most recently begun to dominate most of my thinking. It is closely related to #4, but especially focuses on the issue of motivation. To be a people who are overwhelmed by an open-armed Father who fully accepts us, completely forgives us, and absolutely delights in us, and then to live out all of life as a response to that overwhelmedness, is what we are called to be and do. There is no short-cut to intimacy. There is no substitute for time with the Father. To hear His voice announcing that we are his delightful children and that on us His favor rests and to feel the intimacy of the Father’s arms wrapped around us in a fully accepting embrace are the postures upon which are built and out of which flow every loving, obedient response to Him with whom we have achieved intimacy. Our faith is indeed not a religion, but a relationship. The development of that relationship must have the highest priority with respect to our time, our energies, our efforts, our activities, our entire lives. Be sure to bring to every decision in your life the question, “Will this contribute to or detract from intimacy with my Father?"

I don’t confess to have perfectly kept all of these principles throughout my life. But they have been and continue to be the key principles that guide all I do or correct each of my errors. What are the guiding principles in your life? What is (are) the question(s) that you apply to every decision or choice that you are about to make? If you don’t have any then you are not living intentionally but are simply letting yourself be carried along by the current of the culture, friends, media, lies, and other influences, both internal and external that surround you. Seek God and His Word for those guiding principles that are going to be your north star. Whatever you do, don’t drift! Be intentional!

BOOK: In His Steps by Charles Sheldon. This is must reading for every believer. It should have been among the first 10 books you read as a new believer. If you haven’t yet read it, repent, go buy it, read it, do what it says, and then give it away to a new Christian.