Purposeful Living

UV 1249/10,000 Purposeful Living
For I am become like a bottle in the smoke; yet do I not forget thy statutes
Psalm 119 v 83

Without the Word in us to lead us, to guide us and to bless us, each of us is but a bottle in the smoke. The image that comes to my mind is that we are similar in all our ambitions to the paper rocket we place in a bottle and set fire to the fuse. The rocket shoots to a certain height leaving a trail of smoke and some smoke and soot in the bottle. The bottle can no longer be used for any other purpose. The bottle is not put to use for the purpose for which it was made. We may get different labels or designations and titles or qualifications but our lives would remain a bottle in the smoke. All the things we take pride in as having given us pleasure or happiness are in the absence of the Lord like that launching pad of an empty bottle. We will see all our efforts, all our achievements, all our hopes going up in smoke. We would grow weary and spiritually dry in the heat and dust of everyday life. But the judgements of the Lord written in His precious Word will revive us, rejuvenate us, invigorate us. The way we think can make us older or younger by fifteen years. When we constantly mingle our thought and our words with the words of eternal life that Jesus gave us, we become a special purpose vehicle and a special purpose vessel of the Lord and not just an empty bottle that gathers smoke. Sometimes a bottle has one label and its contents are quite something else. This has led to many people unwittingly drinking poison thinking it is medicine. When we live according to the Word, we will have integrity-our outer labels and our inner content will match.

Like David we must remember the righteous judgements of the Lord in our lives and praise Him seven times a day for it. The testimonies of the Lord or the memories of the victories the Lord has given us in accordance with His laws should be the source of rejoicing of our hearts. We need to take pains to memorise scripture and then recall it in our minds from time to time. Just as a cow chews cud eighteen times before absorbing the nutrients, we need to meditate on each word eighteen times. Yet the distractions and disturbances of life will take us off track unless we renew our commitment daily to store, treasure and constantly and continually apply the Word in our lives.

Our earthly lives are brittle like a bottle and we ought not to set much store by it. Our troubles and our pleasures will vanish like smoke into thin air and we should not take either too seriously. What is important and vital is our communication and our relationship with the Lord. The precepts of the Lord should egg us on. It should spur us to action. It should bar us from evil and folly. When we reverse the word “evil” it becomes “ live”. When we give priority to the Word in our lives, the evil gets reversed and we get to live fully. When we retain and contain the Word, we become the tabernacle or temple of God in this world. Our otherwise empty and vain lives get fulfilled. We are no longer brittle but strong and effective. Unlike the bottle in the smoke, we will be people living purposeful lives.

Prateep V Philip