Who is the man who fears the Lord [with awe-inspired reverence and worships Him with submissive wonder]? He will teach him [through His word] in the way he should choose.
Psalms 25:12 AMP
Have you ever felt lost in the complexities of life? Or do you wonder how to navigate the complexities of life without losing your way? In the vast ocean of life, an ordinary man can easily drift, struggling to navigate life’s complex journey. Without divine guidance, the journey through this world is overwhelming and impossible to safely reach the shore. While some mistakes are permissible with little effect, others can have irreversible consequences. Therefore, to ensure a safe and purposeful journey, we must avoid these pitfalls. Hence, we cannot rely solely on our own understanding. We must be led and strengthened by the Lord.
When the Bible posed the question in Mark 9:50, “…how can its flavour ever be restored?” it implies, as Luke 14:34 (GNT) states, “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, there is no way to make it salty again”. Thus, every believer must guard their saltiness against dissipation. We must ensure we do not lose our saltiness. So, who are the individuals whose salt remains savoury and impactful?
Such individuals are those whom the Lord instructs and leads according to His will, and they willingly and diligently obey His commands. To attain this, one must approach life with awe-inspired reverence and choose the path of worship. Simply put, as the Easy-to-Read Version emphasizes – you must “choose to follow the Lord.”
The passage from Romans 12:1-2 underscores the importance of offering one’s life to God as an act of worship. It also emphasizes the transformation that takes place when one’s attention is fixed on Him. In a world that often drags people down to immaturity, God’s love and the fear of God combine to elevate them to a life of obedient worship.
So, here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
Romans 12:1-2 MSG
The love of God has a constraining power whereby it compels us to serve Him. Likewise, the fear of God has a restraining power, by which it restrains and keeps us back from offending Him. These two would be evident in the life of those who choose to walk in them – the love and fear of God, leading to a life of submissive worship.
Let us take inspiration from David, who understood this reality well and was unwilling to take chances. With this understanding, his only recourse is to seek God’s teaching and guidance. So, he prayed:
Now teach me, Yahweh, all about your ways and tell me what to do. Make it clear for me to understand, for I am surrounded by waiting enemies.
Psalm 27:11 TPT
Let David’s prayer be yours as well. Like him, seek to understand God’s ways and implore Him to make His path clear for you.
In conclusion, in a world of uncertainties and challenges, it’s the wisdom of choosing the path of the Lord, guided by love and awe-inspired reverence, that can truly lead us to a life of meaning and purpose. This is the only path to preserving our ‘saltiness’ and successfully navigating the complexities of life. Let this be our guiding principle – to choose the way of the Lord. We should seek His guidance and understanding. By doing so, we can confidently face life’s challenges, knowing that our reverence and obedience will lead to an abundant and purposeful existence.
