Skip to main content

Walking That Walk

                                             Blessed are those whose way is blameless,

Who walk in the Law of the Lord.  (Psalm 119:1)

 

          Psalm 119, the longest chapter in the Bible, is all about God’s Word. This means it’s all about His law. Different words are used but they all refer back to the things that God has proclaimed about how things are and should be. I’ll return (no doubt) to the issue of my individual practice of walking in the Law of the Lord, but for today, I’d like to take a broader look at the issue, and the fact of the more general of God’s revelations: nature.

          If we, as Christians, are going to walk in the Law of the Lord, and if we are going to be blessed because our way is blameless, then it is incumbent on us to become far more active in understanding that Law and in applying that law in our lives. To do this, we must become much more aware of, and much more cooperative with nature and science. However, I need to make it clear, and I’m not sure how to make it any clearer than to say categorically and emphatically that I am absolute not in any way, shape, or form suggesting even for half a second that we should make science a god or to buy into every statement that is declared to be “scientific.” Instead, we need to be good scientists and look into the matter for ourselves.

          At the moment, I’m not even talking about engaging in science at the level of a professional. I’m also not talking about starting some movement in which we impose our ideas on others. I’m talking about being aware and acting in conjunction with God’s Law in the world. So, without calling press conferences every morning, Christians can and should be doing things like living more closely or more cooperatively with nature. This could involve picking up litter, planting a vegetable garden and a pollinator garden, putting up bird feeders, finding ways to reuse and recycle and to use what we have with more awareness.

Of course, I’m drawing on subjects that are in my current interests, but we should learn to treat our bodies as the temple of God by feeding them better foods than we should. Perhaps if we were used to cooking, it wouldn’t seem so difficult for us to provide a meal to someone who needs it. And, if we were cooking at home instead of eating junk food, we might be healthier.

          Again, none of this is to suggest that we begin lecturing those outside our families. Instead, walking in the Law of the Lord is a personal thing that  you learn to do and patiently teach your family and those around you. In effect, as Christians, we should be quiet and practical personal conservationists, naturalists, and environmentalists. This isn’t to suggest (again) that we change our lives in the next 24 hours, but if we can just learn to make choices that are more in line with natural law, and more in line with being good stewards of ourselves and our world, we will be moving closer to walking that walk. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The List

              Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,   through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;   perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)           Think about it. We have been justified. At least, we could be justified if we stopped insisting that our justification be based on our merits. We have peace with God, or could have peace if we stopped throwing temper tantrums. We have gained access into grace i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Way, The Truth, and The Life

              Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me . (John 14:6)           If “I am the gate of the sheep…I am the good shepherd” from chapter 10 is a double whammy, this verse is a triple whammy. And its first victim is the notion that any other so-called god was acceptable or the same as Jesus. He, and He alone is the way, the truth, and the life, and the only way to get to the Father. There is no other Savior, or Redeemer, according to Jesus. Now, to be fair, other religions will claim that their religion or god(s) are the only way. That is the nature of gods and of religions. If this and that are equally good and agree on what’s necessary, then this and that are the same thing, so there’s no need to from the other to one. If that’s the case, then why speak against the other or promote the one? There’s a song I’ve been listening to i...
Post a Comment
Read more