DAY 203

WHAT GETS YOU GOING & KEEPS YOU GOING?

Psalm 29 & 30 and Acts 23:1-15

What gets you going? By that I mean to ask what gets you excited and energized. Paul seems energized. The Psalmist seems energized as well.

Psalm 29 exclaims and “All cry Glory!” Psalm 30 announces that God has turned the authors “mourning into dancing.” Paul seems to actually provoke a longstanding controversy between the Sadducees and the Pharisees. Now all of this is deadly serious. The Psalms are written on very serious occasions, and Paul, well he is on trial. Yet in the midst of all this stress, there is something about all these readings which get me to ask, “What is getting these folks going?” If any of us were in their shoes we might be very focused on the issue that is right in front of us…for Paul it is his life!

Yet what they have in common is “their center.” The center of Paul’s remarks are not so much his situation, but rather his dedication to serving God. The full thrust of Psalm 29 is towards God. Psalm 30 concludes with “I will give thanks to you forever!” What seems to “get these folks going” is a determination for God.

I have to admit that I get all fired up about all sorts of things, but not always for God. I get fired up for my favorite team, for the fun things I like to do…heck, I get fired up for Ice Cream! But for Jesus, well it is not that I need to simply stay centered, but I need to learn to continually draw my energy and motivation from living a life ordered for, and indeed serving, God. I as I write these words I am painfully aware that the Gospel is Grace…something we receive and not do. I believe that in my bones. Yet I also have a sense that the Christian Life, following Jesus, is more than lying on my couch repeatedly chanting a mantra of “it’s all grace.”

My point is that it is God’s good and perfect love that allows me to be with him now and forever…the question is how much do I want to be with him now? He won’t stop loving me, but I sure can do a lot to either draw close or move far away from him.

My comments are short today, it is Sunday, hope you go (or went) to church. I am on vacation and going to check out a local church…I just need to “get going.”