Vision for a new opportunity

Let's face it. Life is hard. The suffering is all around us. Bad things happen to "good" people all the time. Religion claims to have all the answers, but in reality it sure appears that there are no answers. We encounter the living dead all the time. Wondering around with no sense of purpose or direction people would welcome a respite.  One thing about our current crisis is that many have had time to stop, get off the merry go round, and contemplate life's meaning. 

The richest man who ever lived did this at the end of his life. His conclusion? Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.

For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.  

  

Solomon had it all, had tried it all, and found that the riches of this world lacking. When push comes to shove, respect (fear) for God and doing what He says is our whole purpose. The problem is, Paul tells us in Romans 7, that this is impossible. We end up going down the wrong path even though our mind tells us we need to go another way. We do what we don't want to do, and don't do what we would. A sorry state of affairs, but Paul finally finds a solution:

O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord . There is therefore now NO condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit.

So the way around this is the apprehension of one fact: It's not about me, but Thee! That is what it means to walk in the Spirit. When we walk in the Spirit, we rely not on our own strength, but gladly abandon all to Him. This is no passive bail out, but an active placing of trust in the One who is our Life. May we walk confidently in the newness of life, saints!