A Long Obedience

A Long Obedience--January 12, 2017

"I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Now that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own." [Philippians 3:10-12]

Look--I am the last person you would want to consult for nautical advice, generally speaking.  I will grant that.  But here's something that's obvious to even a landlubber like me: you won't reach the other side of the lake if you are turning 90 degrees to starboard every five minutes.  That's a recipe for going in circles--or, I guess, literally, tiny squares in the water.

That is to say, if you are seriously trying to traverse the straight line between Point A on this side of the lake and Point B on the far side, what you need is a persistent push and consistent compass-orientation.  You need, as (of all people!) Nietzsche called (and which the brilliant Eugene Peterson later riffed on) "a long obedience in the same direction."

That's the key for getting somewhere--anywhere, really.  You keep going, not just in any old direction, but with faithfulness and diligence to keep aimed in the same direction.  The only way we grow in our faith is keeping at it.  The only way we get to be more Christ-like... is to keep letting Christ make us like him.  The only way we come to reflect more and more fully the character of God's Reign in the world... is to let God's priorities and values shape us.  You keep at it, and you keep going in the same direction. In Saint Paul's words, you "press on."

This Christianity thing is not simply having your name on a list of members somewhere, or written in God's golden book up in heaven.  It is about movement--constant movement, but also movement in a constant direction.  We have struggles, to be sure, and we have days and times when we slow down or seem to come to a grinding halt.  But we keep at it.  It is, a long obedience in the same direction, not a distraction every few minutes that turns us every which way.

If we are committed to following Jesus with our lives, and if we are invested in bringing Jesus' Movement of Mercy to all people, then we won't be satisfied to have "done enough yesterday."  We will keep at it today, and tomorrow, and the next day, too, because we are looking to let Jesus remake us all the way to our core.

Today, what are the distractions in our lives that pull us away from forward momentum? What are the places in our lives that we most deeply need "a long obedience in the same direction?"

Lord Jesus, keep me on course today.  Keep me on course.