Lord Willing That I Should Live
How do "Christian Sayings" or the very Scriptures lose their power? Or do they? I say they don't. Nevertheless, it seems to be the case that some beautiful words too often repeated lose their ability to sharpen the soul and make a listener and doer out of them. This is a shame. Just like the whole WWJD movement became propaganda and lost much of its original, profound purpose, so too have other valuable ideas lost their meaning.
As I left work today I found myself using a Christian expression that sounded cliche to myself. Cliche not because I use it too much, nor do I think I misused it. In reality, I have rehearsed this phrase in my mind since I first read it long ago. Most of the time I resist saying it audibly, for it seems it would quickly become cliche to listeners' ears. Even so, it just slipped out.
Coworker: "See you tommorow".
Me: "Yes, Lord willing that I should live, I will see you tomorrow."
Boss: "Where are you going?"
Me: "I'm going home."
Immediately after I said "going home" and released the cliche, I realized again the truth of the rehearsed thought. The Lord God is sovereign. We can make our plans. We can attempt to secure our lives against an uncertain future. Yet only He knows our beginning, our end, our tomorrows.
"Home" I thought to myself. Perhaps my life will be demanded of me, and I will not see these people tomorrow. And in that case, my statement will still be accurate. "I'm going home", friends. Whether I see you or not, I'm going home.
Look here, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit." How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog - it's here a little while, then it's gone. What you ought to say is, "If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that."
James 4:13-15 NLT
Someone in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me."
Jesus replied, "Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?" Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."
And he told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.'
"Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." '
"But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?'
"This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God."
Then Jesus said to his disciples: "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?
"Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.
"Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Luke 12:13-34 NIV
Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near.
Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD.
"As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
Isaiah 55:6-11 NIV