Ps. 67, 71
Yesterday’s NT reading spoke to me of Paul’s focus on God and God’s good purposes. Today’s Psalms take me to the same point. In Psalm 67, the Psalmist asks for God’s blessing. But to what end? “That Your way may be known on earth, Your saving power among all nations.” (Ps 67:2). And in Psalm 71, the Psalmist is seeking refuge and rescue from God, in whom he has trusted from his youth. Verse 18 says, “So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim Your might to another generation, Your power to all those to come.”
The Psalmists here, like Paul, seem to have fully surrendered their lives for the purpose of making God and all that He is known to others. Isn’t that really what our lives are supposed to be about? Isn’t it in that purpose where we will find our greatest fulfillment? I need to remember that my life is but a breath and eternity is, well…..forever. Perhaps that will help shift both my priorities and my perspective to be more in line with God’s purpose.
Phil. 2
Philippians 2 is getting real about how to live a Christ-like life. “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit” (vs 3), and “Do all things without grumbling or disputing” (vs 14). Ouch! That’s hard! However, that God-focused perspective we’ve been reading about really comes into play with all of this. Certainly we can’t live this way without Christ in our lives. But it is not enough just to have Christ in our lives. To live this way, we must fully surrender our lives to Christ. Surrender isn’t a word we like – it sounds defeating. But notice that it was in surrendering Himself that Christ was highly exalted.
I think that “surrender”, like so many words, is a relative word. It is meaningless on its own and must be considered in relation to something else. Surrender to what? Which implies that we always surrender to something, whether we choose to or not. By default, we surrender to our human nature, which is the same as surrendering to The Enemy. That does indeed sound defeating! If we want that condition to change, we must choose to surrender ourselves to something / someone else. And really there are only two options here – we can remain surrendered to The Enemy, or we can choose to surrender to God. So surrendering to God is not defeating at all! In fact, surrendering ourselves fully to God is the only way we can be victorious, because nothing and no one will ever be greater than God.
So, new perspective – living for self, not considering others, griping and grumbling and arguing are defeated behaviors. Self-serving is not so self-serving after all. Setting myself aside, however, and living for God to the benefit of others – that is the sign of a victorious life.