How We Walk Now...

Look carefully how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of the time.
-- Ephesians 5:15-16


There are many things money cannot buy. Among these is time.

We cannot purchase any moment from the past to be relived. Nor can we buy additional seconds to be added to our future.

Each of us has a specified period of time in this life. We have also been given an allotment of time each year, each month, week, day and minute. Time is a precious commodity. And what we do in this moment matters. Who we choose to be in the present dictates who we will become in the minutes, days and years (even eternity) to come.

How and where we have walked in the past cannot carry us in the present. It is a legacy. It builds our confidence and hope. But it will not sustain us in this moment. Nor can our intentions and promises of faithful walking in the future empower us in the now.

We must walk (live our lives) with the wise understanding that we make the most of the moments. Each day gives us opportunity to walk faithfully with Christ ("in the Spirit").

Walk your walk today. Now.
... Pray now
... Get in the Word now
... Love now
... Be Christ to someone now
... Walk now!

God, walking with you is the best use of "my" time...

For now...
D

I wrote a post a while ago that speaks to this topic. (It also reminds me that I am far overdue to write the final post on Potential v. Kinetic.

IF ONLY... (Potential v. Kinetic, pt.3)

How we walk now...

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time...
-- Ephesians 5:15-16

There are many things money cannot buy. Among these is time.

We cannot purchase any moment from the past to be relived. Nor can we buy additional seconds to be added to our future.

Each of us has a specified period of time in this life. We have also been given an allotment of time each year, each month, week, day and minute. Time is a precious commodity. And what we do in this moment matters. Who we choose to be in the present dictates who we will become in the minutes, days and years (even eternity) to come.

How and where we have walked in the past cannot carry us in the present. It is a legacy. It builds our confidence and hope. But it will not sustain us in this moment. Nor can our intentions and promises of faithful walking in the future empower us in the now.

We must walk (live our lives) with the wise understanding that we make the most of the moments. Each day gives us opportunity to walk faithfully with Christ ("in the Spirit").

Walk your walk today. Now.
... Pray now
... Get in the Word now
... Love now
... Be Christ to someone now
... Walk now!

God, walking with you is the best use of "my" time...

For now...
D

I wrote a post a while ago that speaks to this topic. (It also reminds me that I am far overdue to write the final post on Potential v. Kinetic.

IF ONLY... (Potential v. Kinetic, pt.3)

DstanFit50! is now davidmstanley.blogspot.com

Hi and thanks for dropping by. If you are looking for DStanFit50! it has been moved. The name has also changed. My blog is now davidmstanley.blogspot.com

I am expanding the blog to incorporate a daily devotional I have been writing. I will still be writing posts along the lines of the previous content - dealing with potential, performance, fitness, etc.

Thanks and take a look at davidmstanley.blogspot.com

For now...
D

Walk...

Ephesians 4:1,15  "I... urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called... speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up..."

When a baby learns to crawl it is adorable and video-worthy. But there comes a time when crawling should turn to walking. It is the natural progression of healthy growth.

At some point crawling is no longer adorable, nor natural. There comes a time when crawling is an indication of trouble.

The Christian life is often referred to as a "walk." (Though it might be likened better to a hike.) This is appropriate in the sense that the life of faith is a journey, and there is no express charter to spiritual maturity. Our journey with Christ is a one-step-at-a-time faith walk-about over the rugged terrain of our lives.

If we sprint out ahead of Christ, we will trip over an unforeseen rock or root in the path; or diverge from the path completely. If we lag behind (or crawl), we may lose sight of our guide. The Christian "walk" is to be "walked" side by side with with the One who promises to "never leave us," and "be with us always," (Deuteronomy 31:6; Matthew 28:20). (In reality, both analogies - running ahead and lagging behind - fail, because no matter where we are, God will not abandon us.)

The harsh reality is we all struggle to walk at times. We revert to a crawl; whether due to internal impairment or the weight of external circumstance. In either case however, Christ gives us the power to stand up and walk. It is the Holy Spirit's ministry within to empower us when we have no power. At these times, we must trust him, lean on him. We just get up and allow him to direct our steps. "Trust in the Lord... and he will direct your steps," (Proverbs 3:5-6).

Paul writes that we are to "...walk in a manner worthy of the calling..." (v.1). As he describes the manner of this walk, he places our Christian life in the context of relationships. Each of the qualities he mentions - gentleness, patience, humility, love, etc. - are internal "fruit of the Spirit" with relationship application (see Galatians 5:22-23).

For the sake of time and (blog) space, let's distill it down to this: We need one another. The life of faith is a life set in community. Christianity cannot be lived or experienced in a vacuum of isolation.

Today we may be the arm of Jesus reaching down to help another stand from a crawl. Today we may need a another to reach down to us - to help us walk.

God, Help me to walk in a manner worthy...

The Abundant Giver

Ephesians 3:20-21 "Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us… to him be glory."

We don't pray big enough. We don't believe big enough. We don't dream big enough. We don't dare big enough.

God's power and his plans far exceed our greatest imagination. It should go without saying that Christ can do in us and through us all he has promised. Far beyond that, he can do what we have never been bold enough to dream; what we have not conceived to ask.

We must keep in mind that this is for his glory, not ours. It just so happens that in God's spiritual economy, what glorifies him turns out to also be what is best for us. If we get this turned around, our faith in in danger of becoming self-centered, adulterated and futile. And it just takes a quick cycle through the religious TV channels or a pass through the "Christian" section of Barnes and Noble to see an upside-down theological trend of man as God and God as helper.

That said, however, God offers so much more than we experience. More of his presence. More of his power. More intimate knowledge of his amazing grace. More partnership in his purposes.

God is not a provider of partial. Nor is he the giver of just enough. God is a God of abundance.

When Moses just wanted an escape route… God parted a sea.

When Israel just wanted someone to sacrifice to the giant… God provided a steely-eyed shepherd boy with a huge heart and deadly aim.

When Mary and Martha just wanted a healing… God performed a resurrection.

When mankind was bound in the hopeless prison of sin… God gave his Son.

And when you and I turn to him in need… God gives abundantly more than we can possibly ask or dream.

We must pray bigger... believe bigger... dream bigger... dare bigger.

God, you are the abundant giver…

The Sculptor...

(This post is from a daily devotion I write. At some point I will be combining it with my blog - all under a new title).

Ephesians 2:10 "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."

"You are who you are because of the Master Artist who put you together." That is how Malcolm Smith closed each of his radio broadcasts. Thirty years later, the phrase is as fresh and meaningful as it was the day I first heard it delivered in his calming, yet authoritative British accent.

God paints our lives for his purposes. And he does so with a care and precision that, by comparison, make Michelangelo or Da Vinci look like kindergarten finger-painters. Yet in his incredible artistic sovereignty, he gives us freedom.

I cannot explain God's artistry any more than I could attempt to sculpt Michelangelo's "David" from play dough.  (Sorry for the mixed art-medium metaphors throughout this post). God's design, his brush-strokes - our freedom, our belief and failures; they somehow come together to form the picture he has in mind.

We are not passive in the process. Nor are we in control. We are participants. And we are the canvas (or the block of stone). Brush strokes and chisel points are often uncomfortable. But they are purposeful.

The more hammer blows that fall upon the chisel, the more we resemble the picture of Christ. Sometimes large chunks of unnecessary weight fall away with one blow. It is freeing. More often, the process is incremental. And the scarring from the chisel point reminds us of the wounds that bought us freedom.

God takes ordinary blocks of stone (maybe clay is more biblical) and carves master works. That is what he wants to do in your life and mine. And though we may not be completely aware, he is at work. Now. Today.

"We are who we are, because of the Master Artist who put us together."

God, paint my life for your purposes…

For now... D

IF ONLY... (Potential v. Kinetic, pt.3)

Regrets, I've had a few... 
- My Way, by Frank Sinatra

It will soon be 11:59:59 p.m. December 31, 2015. A whisper of the second hand will lift the curtain on a new year. 

Retrospectives have begun; countdowns of the top songs, movies, and news stories of the past year. This week The meaning of Auld Lang Syne will be googled a hundred thousand times. Fittingly, the direct translation is Old Long Ago, or more loosely, Times Gone By. 

That is, after all, what time does. It goes by. Time passes. It can be reflected upon and reminisced. It can be memorialized. Good times gone by will be celebrated. There is, however, a dark side to Auld Lang Syne. It can be a song of regret. It can be a mournful tune of -  IF ONLY...

Regrets fall into three primary categories:

1) Those things we did, but wish we hadn't.

2) Those things we never did, but wish we had.

3) The weight of wasted time. 

Those things we did, but wish we hadn't

I vividly recall pulling into our garage after a family outing years ago. My son, somewhere around eight years old at the time, bolted from the left rear door the moment the car stopped. He raced around the back of the SUV and up the passenger side. His goal was to get to the television before his sisters, so he could start the Star Wars DVD where he had paused it. My daughter, unaware of the approaching blond Flash, opened her door just in time for his head to meet its sharp edge at full speed. The resulting head wound was impressive to say the least. An ER visit and many stitches later, all was well. He has the scar to this day - a memento of a painful experience. 

We all carry mementos of pain. However, experts tell us that it is usually not these we most regret. The scars, the wounds, they are part of who we are. And though we would not want to repeat many of the experiences; and may regret some, these are not our greatest IF ONLYs...

The major IF ONLYs of our lives are of the second and third types. 

Those things we never did, but wish we had.

Much has been written on the regrets of the aged or the dying. The greatest of these can be distilled to missed opportunities: opportunities for relationships, opportunities to risk, opportunities to step outside of comfort and attempt something greater. Opportunities to answer the question, WHAT IF...? (But I'm ahead of myself. That question is for the next post.) 

These regrets are formed in statements like:

If only... I had followed my passion instead of taking the easy path...

If only... I had told her how I really felt...

If only... I had been more present when my kids were young...

If only... I had been more generous...

If only... I had cared less what others though of me...

If only... I had believed in myself more...

If only has to be one of the saddest word combinations imaginable. It is the lament of opportunities not grasped; of potential unrealized. 

The weight of wasted time. 

This regret closely mirrors that above. It is the regret of passivity when passion was needed... complacency where action was called for... apathy when love could have made all the difference.

Jim Croce's Time in a Bottle is both beautiful and haunting. It is a love song, and in some ways a song of regret. Croce begins, If I could save time in a bottle..., and finally concludes, but there never seems to be enough time...  (I am fully aware that I have lost all readers over the age of 45 to a reminiscent humming of the melody. Come on back for just a few more moments.) The question Croce ponders is one that we all ask from time to time. It is birthed from wasted time. From regret. And in reflection we exclaim, IF ONLY...  

These last two categories are descriptive of the POTENTIAL LIFE - that life that could be. But just like a piece of chalk sitting on a desk, it is moving nowhere (see part 1). Our goal instead, is to live a KINETIC LIFE - the life that IS; that IS moving, that IS trying. The life that IS attempting and failing and succeeding. The life that IS living. 

What if... you had another chance? 

Well, that is for the next post. But I can't help but say: You do have another chance! It is a gift, a present. It is THE present. It is now! And you have the opportunity to dream the possibilities... What if...?

For now...

D

(Author's note: While recently roaming Barnes and Noble, I came across a book entitled IF by Mark Batterson. I haven't read the book, but a quick look at the back cover told me that it deals with the same two big IFs I am here. I look forward to the read, but am purposefully holding off until I finish with these few posts.)