Dear Trekker,
Happy 2009! I’m not sure how much milestones mean, but this completes four years of “Passing the Baton”. I don’t intend to stop writing and sharing the power of God with the next generation; please don’t stop reading, either! For each of you is a letter written on my heart.
At times I am disappointed I can only write to you! I long to see you, and as our friend the Apostle Paul stated, “that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong, that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.” (Romans 1:11,12) Be assured, what I write each month is what I, too, seek to live. These nuggets are not merely theoretical or academic. All that I write is the glue that has held my life together these past 74 years. I, too, am a trekker. A trekker’s life can be exciting when we are consciously aware that life is all about relationships… first, last, and always. So, naturally God is always speaking about relationships… first with Him, and secondly with each other! All truth concerning law and grace speaks into this ultimate reality of life, now and in eternity.
One truism I want to practice and write on in 2009 is this: Human needs invariably come to life and emerge when current life habits or fixes don’t work! If you made some New Year’s resolutions, it was for this reason.
I am a “big picture/broad stroke guy” as many of you know. The devil is always in the details for me. I seek not to “fix things”, but to lay out eternal truth principles (and that is what Biblical writers, inspired by the Spirit, sought to do as well) by which we may align ourselves with God’s will and desires and provisions for our lives. Hence, read your Bible!
Here is one of the “big picture” bites to chew on as we begin the New Year: Are we human beings with a spiritual component with which we would be wise to deal… or are we actually spiritual beings with a human dimension that allows a gateway to eternity? Isn’t it strange that man is referred to as a human being, and the spiritual element comes so often as an afterthought? Hey trekker, it’s just the reverse with God! He knew us before the foundation of the world, as the Scripture clearly states. (Eph 1:4) And our relationship with Him, with self and others is intended to be holy and wholly blameless before Him, that we may be like Him forever and enter the eternal trek of the Trinity. His incredible visit to earth for about thirty years… his birth, life, teachings, sufferings, death, resurrection, and ascension… was to achieve for us for eternity what we could not achieve without Him.
Trekker, who we are in relation to God, self, and others is the essence of life. Each of us has a universal longing for relationships. It is our DNA. In our work, our deepest appetites, our play, our leisure…each takes its place within the eternal spiritual equation.
So this month I want to highlight four essentials of healthy relationships which are contained in a 2008 book, More Than Me, by Peterson, McMahan, and Russ, Nav Press. (I highly recommend it.)
The first foundational truth is love. God is love, and His love is effusive. He made us and shaped us in love! He gives in love and for love. He simply says, “Believe that I love you!” Hence, the perennial question to His disciples, “Who do you say I am?” Love is intended to be the energizer of our life and our life with others. For example trekker, we men get messed up when we don’t love our wives as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for it. We don’t stray from our wives because we love sex so much; we stray because we fall out of love with our wives and fall for anything. Trekker, confess it to God, to self, and to friend wife, and you can be made whole again.
The second foundational principle is integrity! Oh, I respect the concept of integrity. I aspire for integrity, for wholeness, for integration of everything I am and do. Integrity has no substitute. Without it, we are destitute… and destined for much more sculpturing by the Master. And He is a relentless artist.
This leads to eternal foundational principle three… humility. “He must increase; I must decrease.” “Don’t think more highly of yourself than you ought to think, but consider each other better than yourself.” Over and over again, we are humbled by His grace. Stature is all about Jesus standing in me, not about what I do.
Finally, forgiveness comes in as a deep resounding bass in this quartet of truth. God forgives us; because we were sinners (separated from God), He died for us. (Romans 5:8) Hence, we forgive others. If we do not forgive others, we demonstrate we do not understand His forgiveness. How rewarding life becomes when we simply forgive one another!
Trekker, you, we, belong! (John 16:15 says it well.) Let’s “be devoted to one another”, “honor one another”, “rejoice with one another”, “mourn with one another”, “encourage one another”. (Those “another brothers” are all over the place in Scripture.) Surely, “a faithful friend is a sure shelter, a rare treasure”. And all begins and ends with Jesus… what a friend we have in Jesus!
Friend, let’s not be an Atlas in 2009! Let others, if they choose, take His world on their shoulders! Drop the world and dance on it as you ascend the mountain of forever life.
Your friendly trekker,
Jim Meredith