SPENDING LIFE WELL (2)

Last week we began to see how Jesus’ can help us spend life well. We started by noting that a purely secular approach to time management will never satisfy Christians. It leaves God out of the picture and makes an ultimate idol of efficiency and accomplishment. There’s more to spending life well than that. And Jesus is surely the master-teacher in this respect.

Jesus’ life, we saw last week, was shaped firstly by his awareness of God, and secondly, by his awareness of his calling. These things established both disciplined patterns of life and broad parameters for decisions. But there is more. His way of approaching life was also determined by established by the revealed Word of his Father and the religious structures inherent in this.

We see this, for example, in the way he regularly observed the Sabbath. The fact that he interpreted its strictures differently to others didn’t mean he ignored it. On the contrary, he, like any God-fearing Jew, was to be found in the synagogue on the Sabbath. Also, he attended the feasts in Jerusalem regularly. In fact, in every respect, he fulfilled the righteous requirements of the Jewish law (Galatians 4:4). That necessarily was a factor that determined how he spent his time. He was aware that he fulfilled the Scriptures, and always acted accordingly (Mark 14:49).

Then fourthly, there was another factor that determined what he did, namely, the special leading of the Holy Spirit. Immediately after his baptism we read that the Spirit, who had descended upon him on that occasion, led him into the wilderness to be tempted (Luke 4:1). Clearly this was an immediate act of God – one of those occasions where God did directly determine what his Son did. Presumably there were others. Jesus’ ministry was one he undertook in the power of the Spirit (Acts 10:38), and we may assume there was more than once that the Spirit directed him to do something.

Then fifthly, the Gospel records make clear that Jesus’ life was shaped also by what we might call “serendipitous encounters.” These were so-called “chance encounters,” or the unplanned incidents that arose in the course of his journeys. His meeting with the rich young ruler is one such case, as is his encounter with the woman who had been suffering a bleeding complaint for many years (Matthew 19:16ff., Mark 5:24-31). These were meetings which arose in the course of daily life which Jesus responded to appropriately in each case. There was this “unplanned” element in his life – a significant factor it would appear from the Gospel records. Within the larger framework of communing with his Father, intentionally seeking to fulfil his mission, abiding by the constraints of the law and his religious duty, and following the leading of the Spirit, Jesus interacted with life as it came to him. He didn’t go about aimlessly, but he lived with openness to whatever his Father might providentially bring across his path.

I personally find this a helpful way to approach life myself. At the broadest level, my life is governed by the fact that I know I am in an intimate covenant relationship with God the Father and his Son Jesus through the Spirit. That means that my life, just like Jesus’ life (though not as perfectly as his!!!) is orientated toward God. Communion with God is a priority; it’s how I try to begin each day, go through each day, and close each day.

Then there’s the calling he has given me – to be a pastor and teacher of his people. That immediately defines things I need to do and creates a basic structure to each week. That includes structure that arises out of need to care for my family, preach and teach, visit pastorally, and worship with my fellows-believers. On top of that, I always maintain openness to what I perceive is special direction from the Spirit. There are times when there is a sense of constraint to do something – make a telephone call, visit a person, write a letter etc., - and I make a point of responding to such urgings when they are consistent with the Scriptures.

Then there are the ‘serendipitous’ happenings and opportunities that arise each day that call for attention. They may come in the form of visit from a neighbour, an e-mail from a friend in China, an unexpected letter arrive in the letterbox, or in any number of other ways. In each case, these provide opportunities to “do good.” The words of Solomon in the book of Ecclesiastes apply to them – “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might” (Ecclesiastes 9:10).

Following Jesus in the way outlined is not a mechanical formula for life. But it does provide a grid – a way of looking at life – that is patterned on the way he lived. And his life is meant to be a pattern for ours, even down to the details of how he approached using time. The more we study the way he lived his life the more we can learn about how to order ours.