ChosenRebel's Blog

Looking my age is not the point but the launching off point for this post.

Got my hair cut yesterday. The guy at the counter of Great clips was new. It had been an all female crew but this was the first time I’d seen him. “Did you sign in online?” “Yes,” I said, “I’m number one on your screen.” “Marty?” “That’s me.” 

And then the question I have never been asked before . . .

“Are you over 65?”

“I am.”

There is a discount for being over 65 so I appreciate the question. I guess I am starting to look my age. Or maybe I have “looked my age” for a long time and the girls in the shop were too polite to tell me! In either case, the facts are what they are. I am 68 and fast approaching a new birthday. The sand in the top of my hour glass is diminishing and I want to finish the journey well.

I think all of us want to finish well. But wanting and doing are two different things. To actually finish well, we need intention coupled with commitment, prayer and investment in the disciplines of godliness and we need a community. None of us are designed to “do it alone”. The Lord’s prayer begins not with “my father” but “our father”. From the very beginning, Jesus was trying to get the disciples to recognize the need for one another. The Fellowship of Christ, like “The Fellowship of the Ring” (Tolkien) is designed to help us both survive and thrive in our pilgrim journey. We need one another.

We need the church. We need to be in regular communion and fellowship with a local body of believers who can hold us accountable and among whom we can use our gifts. We need the body and the body needs us. That’s God’s design. There are no lone rangers. Try to be the first, and you will fail, like everyone before you. This is the first step. Be engaged with a local body of imperfect people seeking to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Begin to work out the rest of what you need in the community of others who need to do the same.

• Commitment—make it and tell someone, and ask them to help hold you accountable
• Prayer—pray daily for God to empower your resolve
• the disciplines of Godliness—Prayer, Bible Study, Meditation, Evangelism, Submitting to the Holy Spirit, Denying Self, Carrying Your Own Cross (i.e. Doing the will of God), Worship, Fellowship, etc.

Mundane, I know, but there is no substitute.

I’m praying for you.