Since I began blogging over 5 years ago, I have learned a lot about how to write succinctly. Consequently, I have gone back and re-written and/or re-formatted some of my earlier posts; it's like getting a chance to start over. Don't I wish it were that easy in the real world. Is there anyone who never wished they could erase some part of their beginning and start again? But, there are no “do-over's” in “time.”
In the spiritual realm, however, we are not only promised
a new start, we are incited to it. After Paul promises us we can be “renewed” each day (2
Cor. 4:16), he urges us to “walk in newness” (Rom. 6:4). Jesus tells us to treat each day as new,
not looking back regretfully (Matt. 6:34; Luke 9:62). And this is better than a ‘do-over.’ “It means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become
a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” (2 Cor. 5:17). Don't allow yesterday's mistakes to infect your new day. (Col. 4:5)
Last week, one of the Church’s giants in faith, David Wilkerson, was killed in a head-on collision. I wondered about the violence of David’s death. It’s one of those things that David would have told us not to fret about—just trust in God’s sovereign goodness, and don’t try to make sense of it.
As I reflected on the violence of his death, however, I thought to myself ‘David died much the way he lived.’ His was a ‘violent’ Christianity, living every day with passion and power, as though it were his last. He lived with self-abandonment. David Wilkerson was one of the Church's “violent men” who take the kingdom of God “by force” (Mat. 11:12). The “gates of hell could not prevail” (Mat. 16:18) against David Wilkerson and the mighty army of men and women he raised up.
But the words “violent” and “force” do not tell the whole story. He was a very humble man, a servant leader—even as Jesus humbled Himself to the point of death (Philippians 2:8). David did violence to his own flesh long before an auto accident took his life so violently. Likewise, Peter, Paul, James, and most of the Apostles and early followers of Jesus died violent deaths. But they were all long dead to this world before that happened—men who “did not love their lives so much that they were afraid to die” (Rev. 12:11), even a violent death!
One of everybody’s favorite Psalms, 37, begins with the command don’t 'fret.' Fret is an old English word which has fallen out of common usage, meaning to be worried, angry, or vexed (another old English word!). It also means to chaff or rub, which is what happens to your finger tips when you press down on the ‘frets’ of a stringed instrument. We all know about fretting! According to the Psalmist, the cure for fretting is to “delight yourself in the LORD,” even adding, “and he will give you the desires of your heart.”
This is a real attention grabber, since we all want to be given the desires of our heart. But the promise is conditional: are we first delighting ourselves in the Lord? The Psalmist sets up his reasoning as one of priorities—first things first. The Hebrew word “delight” means to be happy or make merry. In the New Testament we “make merry” by “rejoicing,” a faith-based demonstration of our sincere gratitude for what God has done for us.
And as for the desires of our heart, He means we are to let God place in our hearts the things He desires for us. The Psalmist is telling us to concentrate on the cause of delight (the Lord) and let Him effect our hearts—His and our desires becoming one. In these fretful and vexing days, we need to set our thoughts and affections on things above (Col. 3:2)—not on the fretful and vexing things on earth!
