Purpose: What are you giving your life to? - Holy and beautiful lives

FOCUS SCRIPTURE

1 Thessalonians 4:1-12

DAILY BYTE

The kind of lives we live really matters. The way we treat others, the way we treat our own bodies, the language we use, being true to our word, honouring our commitments, being honest and truthful in all our dealings, acknowledging our mistakes and not being too proud to say sorry - all of this really matters. We’ve all heard the saying, “Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven” and of course that is true. But it’s a perversion of the gospel and a cheapening of God’s grace to use a saying like that to justify a mediocre, undisciplined life. No, God wants us to live holy lives. Not ‘holier-than-thou’ lives - but holy lives. Lives that reflect the Spirit of God living within us. Lives that are qualitatively different because God is at the centre. Such lives are truly beautiful!

This is the most eloquent testimony we could ever give. It was Ralph W. Emerson who once said: “Who you are speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you are saying!”

In a very real sense, what’s inside of us cannot remain hidden. Who we really are becomes evident in the lives we live. So if we are serious about being a faithful witness to Jesus - which is the purpose of every disciple - we have to pay careful attention to what is happening in our hearts:

• the recurring malicious thoughts and cynical attitudes that are ours,


• the anger & rage that simmers below the surface,


• the destructive patterns of behaviour that sabotage our relationships,


• the festering bitterness caused by old hurts that we have not forgiven

The list could go on and on. We need to enter the “inner room” of prayer each day to acknowledge these things before God, in order for God’s work of healing and transformation to reach deep within to these our places of most profound need.

This is, of course, a lifelong process - but so long as we are on that inner journey of healing and transformation, it becomes possible for us to offer a truthful witness to our faith that will “command the respect of outsiders” as we live holy and beautiful lives.

Sara Groves sings a stunning song called ‘Add to the Beauty.’ Here are some of the lyrics:

We come with beautiful secrets
We come with purposes written on our hearts, written on our souls
We come to every new morning with possibilities only we can hold

Redemption comes in strange places, small spaces
Calling out the best of who we are

And I want to add to the beauty, to tell a better story
I want to shine with the light that’s burning up inside

This is grace, an invitation to be beautiful

Questions for reflection:

1. Read and reflect on this quote from Malcolm Muggeridge:“Doing something beautiful for God is, for Mother Teresa, what life is about. Everything, in that it is for God, becomes beautiful, whatever it may be; as does every human soul participating in this purpose, whoever he or she may be. In manifesting this, in themselves and in their lives and work, Mother Teresa and the Missionaries of Charity provide a living witness to the power and truth of what Jesus came to proclaim. His light shines in them. When I think of them in Calcutta, as I often do, it is not the bare house in a dark slum that is conjured up in my mind, but a light shining and a joy abounding. I see them diligently and cheerfully constructing something beautiful for God out of the human misery and affliction that lies around them. One of the leper settlements is near a slaughter-house whose stench in the ordinary way might easily make me retch. There, with Mother Teresa, I scarcely noticed it; another fragrance had swallowed it up.” (From Something Beautiful for God by Malcolm Muggeridge)
2. Make a list of people (from the pages of history as well as your own personal experience) who have been an example to you of inner radiance reflected outward into lives of great beauty and inspiration.
3. Think of a few ways in which you can ‘Add to the beauty’ today. Write them down and allow them to shape your purpose as they point you to the particular paths that you need to choose today.

PRAYER

Thank you Lord for the many people who have been a witness to me of what a life of authentic discipleship can look like. Thank you for the challenge of their example and the inspiration of their faithfulness. Help me to embrace your calling for me to live a holy and beautiful life. Amen