Day 31 - Issue 27
Proverbs 3:5-6 NLT
'Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.'
Making our way through life is quite different from [itals]finding[end itals] our way in life. Regardless of circumstance or feelings, I have to navigate each day, which is making my way through life.
Our minds are finite and cannot reach beyond our own logic. Yet, with God nothing is impossible (Luke 18:27), so we are invited to think, and think big.
From the moment of birth we are surrounded by sights and sounds that can lead us to conclude that there are barriers to self-expression and improvement. The material framework that we base contemporary Western life upon is of human construction with, at best, an element of God woven through it. In the life of Jesus, admittedly in a very different set of social and cultural norms, we see little evidence of a commitment to live constrained by such customs. So we can choose a life crafted from listening to the word of God in our heart. Here, heart is not the seat of the emotions but the very essence of who God created each of us to be.
Will we follow the guidance that is freely on offer and built upon the values and assumptions of contemporary social norms, or will we risk a different path crafted through conversation with God and born of obedience? This is the path chosen by Mary as a teenager. This was neither an easy path nor one on which she ever knew the consequences of her obedient decision-making. Instead, she left it to God to take responsibility for the outcomes for Mary and her fiancé.
QUESTION: What do you think your purpose in life is?
PRAYER: Lord, in all things, large or small, give me the courage to do your will.
