The Wisdom That Makes Life Work Most

Being Christian I happen to believe that the wisest way of living is the Christian way.

Not only did Jesus Christ die for our sins, though that is enough, not only was he raised from the dead, though that is enough, and not only did he ascend to the right hand of God, though that is enough, he also shows us the best way to live life to the full. He shows us how to live the life of peace, hope, faith, joy, love and wisdom.

The wisdom that makes life work most attacks the wrong way of living that we all constantly fall for.

We all live this life in our own strength.

This is an exhausting reality.

It doesn’t take long—well, about 35 years—before you realise that living this life in your own strength doesn’t work. As we approach burnout, we recognise the folly in living life in a way that derives energy and sustaining power from our own reserves.

The harder we try, the more futile life becomes, as we take on more and more, before we learn that such a method to live cannot be sustained.

DON’T WASTE YOUR TIME

In Christian parlance there is a psalm in the Bible that speaks of this folly. In Psalm 127 it says that those who build without the Lord labour in vain. And those who guard their lives without God also guard their life in vain. Without God’s sponsorship everything we build in this life is susceptible to ruin, and our activities are tantamount to a waste of time.

The crux is that working in our own strength requires furious effort, produces much frustration, and creates anger, sadness and fear, and ultimately relationship problems.

ADMIT LIFE WITHOUT GOD IS UNMANAGEABLE

It is a humbling reality we come to when we acknowledge that life without God is unmanageable. But again, the Bible helps. We read in 2 Corinthians 12:7b-10 that even the apostle Paul struggled with a nemesis. If we’re honest, we all do. As we acknowledge that God’s grace is sufficient, however, we are granted the spiritual gift of a state I call “being in God’s strength”.

Psalm 121 states that, as we look up in our distress, and ask from where does our help come, we find that the only help that comes, comes from the Lord above. That he may be called upon as we cry out, though our circumstances are not changed for us, better responses to our circumstances are possible. Because we feel heard. Because we feel understood. Because we have given proper vent to our frustrations. And because we’ve experienced a mystery.

LOOKING FROM HEAVEN—A POST DEATH VIEW FROM THE VANTAGE POINT OF THIS LIFE

We need further help if we are to live out of the state of being in God’s strength.

We need to be able to borrow from a post death view looking down from heaven. We need to anticipate our regrets and cater for them beforehand. We can do this from a post death view. We will see how to love people against our own selfish whims. Only from this view, of having passed away, will we truly see from God’s viewpoint our need to make the most of every opportunity that this life presents us with.

This is the opportunity presented in Ephesians 5:15-17. It suggests that we need to be careful how we live, not as unwise people but wise, making the most of our time, for the days we live in are full of temptation to do foolish things. And the pinnacle of such folly is the spurning of our relationships.

PUTTING IT TOGETHER

Living from a post death perspective, looking down from heaven, being in God’s strength, no longer working in our own strength, we have the knowledge of awareness and the capacity of surrender.

Our purpose is not worldly, but heavenly. And what is occurring is a personal transformation because we are committed to living life in the shadow of the cross. From such visceral transformation comes a redemptive vision, and we literally live our lives in such a way that we wish all our relationships to be reconciled and restored, as far as that depends on us.

THROUGH REVELATION AND PRAYER

The key to sustaining this vision is through God speaking to us through the revelation of the Holy Spirit’s sufficiency, of the idols in our hearts that we may repent of, and of the hope, peace, and joy that are only possible through God.

Through revelation and prayer we have the capacity to reconcile what God is saying to us as we ask, “What do I need to see from a post-death perspective, as I live intentionally for eternity?”