Thought for Today

How do we have the best days of our lives? How do I? With all that is going on in the world, having our best days seems crazily stupid and naïve, doesn’t it? But in thinking about things, I’ve realized that these truly are the best days of my life.

Objectively, that statement makes no sense. Although relatively stable, my very reduced eyesight is declining. Otherwise, I am physically aware of increasing limitations. Physically, these aren’t “the best days of my life.”

Musically, given other priorities, I am not doing much of anything at the moment. Even if I were, I don’t have the stamina to practice like I used to. Musically, on that basis, these are not “the best days of my life.”

Financially, is everything going wonderfully well? No. In at least some respects, these are the most uncertain days I’ve faced financially. Financially, these are not “the best days of my life.”

From the above paragraphs, it sure seems like these could be among the worst days of my life, doesn’t it? So, why are these my best days, and by extension, how could these become your best days? Hint: it doesn’t depend on circumstances.

What I’ve come to realize, and it is entirely by God’s grace, and His working in my life—I cannot take any credit at all—is how He has been changing my life. He has helped me to lay aside all sorts of stuff that I can so easily be entangled by—we aren’t talking things that are in themselves sin—and thereby to become more focused on what it is that He wants me to be doing.

Jesus does say that if we seek to save our lives, we will lose them, while if we lose our lives for His sake, we will find them. Although I’ve come to this realization much later in life than I’d wish, I have found it to be true. Just as Paul said about his own situation, all I can do is put my past behind and press on.

I have found an underlying God-centered and God-created joy in being about what He wants me to be doing. It is truly exciting; even when a major part of it has been on the “unfun” project of learning about, and writing about, Islam.

The exciting thing is that each one of us can live that way. It is available to every Christian, to everyone who has a genuine relationship with Jesus Christ, the Son of God, our Savior. Hebrews 12:1, the verse indirectly referenced earlier, states (NAU): “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.”

Why do we untangle ourselves? It isn’t to get caught up in something else. Rather, it is so we can walk in obedience to God, and do the works that He has prepared from beforehand for us to do (Ephesians 2:10).

That obedience does not depend upon our circumstances. As Hebrews 11 states, we walk by faith. When we walk by faith, our focus is not on our circumstances. Although they may require our attention, ideally we respond to them based on how God directs, not by how we feel, or the fears we might be having.

Each one of us can make the choice to start doing that, and to start to do that right now. As the world keeps deteriorating, it would be far better for all of us as believers, to learn to walk by faith now, in obedience to what God wants, to what God has revealed in the Scriptures.

If we are walking based on “I feel that God said,” “this feels like God,” or anything similar, that is not walking according to the true God. The Holy Spirit will direct us, but His direction never contradicts Scripture. To cite a sad, classic example: “God told me to divorce my husband and to marry…” Such “direction” is not from God..

Let us all start walking in obedience to God. Regardless of our circumstances, let us be about what He has called us to do. By walking close to Him, by resting in Him, by being obedient to Him, these truly can be the best days of our lives.