01 July 2023
A couple of you contacted me about something. Yesterday I wrote that human accomplishments meant nothing. However, the Lord will remember your efforts to glorify Him into Eternity.
In James' letter, he warned his Hebrew readers to stop asserting their business goals, but to understand things from a different angle. All your human goals are proximate. It's not a question of where you end up, but that you are on the right track. By the time you get partway there, it's quite possible the Lord will direct you to make a turn and go somewhere else. By the same token, once you've achieved some goal, you may by then realize it wasn't important.
As others have said, it's not about the product, but the process. In everything you do, the only valid motive is seeking the Lord's glory. Human psychology doesn't simply go away when you surrender to Christ. It is well understood that you must start somewhere when it comes to serving the Lord. Don't just do nothing and fritter your life away, but don't get lost in human concerns. Start off with your best estimate of what would please Him, but realize that He will probably change things before you get too far.
I can't count how many times something I believed would be a major emphasis of my life has turned out to be of no importance. The issue was not whether I drove forward with passion, but that I listened when God spoke to my heart about a change of plans. I would go so far as to suggest that, for the majority of us, we should walk forward with the expectation that frequent dramatic changes would be the norm. That's because of how very far our western world is from His ways. Our starting point is quite some distance from Eden.
Let this world go. This is a key element of Christian Mysticism in general and Radix Fidem in particular. The New Testament echoes with the call to disentangle from this world. Being more spiritual means less worldly – less interested in what drives human ambition. It doesn't mean that earthly things have no use, but that they shouldn't own you. The world around you is just a tool for His glory. You must always be ready to let anything and everything go.
Learn from Job and be ready to face the most tragic losses. This world is not worth it. What matters is pleasing the Lord. Do you see the wicked appearing to prosper? We've said this before: This world is all they have. Don't envy them. God's "reward" for the wicked is to turn them over to the evil they desire until it consumes them.
The only real treasure for us is peace with God.
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