Life | Discipleship Prayer Day 32

Your way is the way of fullness and life

“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” -Oscar Wilde

Life.

For Wilde, the most basic level of life was existential — consuming oxygen and occupying space-but to truly live was to move beyond biological functioning into a much deeper sense of meaning and purpose. It is not hard to imagine great numbers of people with beating hearts and functioning lungs, going through the motions of human existence while dreaming of something more; a more meaningful purpose for their lives.

Tell me all about your faithful love come morning time, because I trust you. Show me the way I should go, because I offer my life up to you. (Psalm 143:8)

For the people of God, this deeper life begins with God’s faithful love and a deep trust in the agape way of life that God has modeled for us in Jesus Christ. As poetry, the Psalms often come in pairs, or couplets, with each phrase corresponding to another to provide added depth and meaning. For example:

“God’s faithful love” corresponds with “the way I should go”

“I trust [God]” corresponds with “I offer my life up to [God]”

The way of life given by God to those who would trust and obey is the way of faithful love to God and neighbor (Mk 12:30–31).

“It is done,” says the One upon the throne, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life, for I AM…the way, the truth, and the life. (Revelation 21:6; John 14:6)

“It is done,” Jesus said as the cross sapped what remained of his biological, human life. He had lived out his time on earth giving the water of life to those who were thirsty. In doing so, he pointed consistently to a fullness of life that looked beyond the here and the now.

Therefore, whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. (Paraphrase of 2 Timothy 1:9; Revelation 2:6–7; John 14:6)

The cross, far from being a life ended tragically in defeat, represents the victory of a life well-lived. To the one who is victorious-that is, the one who is nourished by the living water and the bread of life that is Christ-there is a great promise. A promise that takes us back to the garden where shalom reigned, where humanity walked with God in the coolness of the afternoon, and where the tree of life offered the fruit of real, true, unending life. In other words-fullness and life.

Originally published at https://sefairbanks.substack.com on February 24, 2022.