To Encourage You

Psalm 23:3 “He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.”

Such awesome privileges and a lifelong adventure come to those who accept the invitation of Jesus to “Follow me (Matthew 4:19).”  It’s the most thrilling and fulfilling life that can be lived for it’s a life of following the One Who has created us.  To follow Him is to fulfill the very purpose for which we’ve been placed on this earth.  Therefore, it is to live a life without regrets.  Implied within this invitation is the promise that Jesus will most definitely lead us.  If it is our heart’s desire to follow Him, know that it is much more the Lord’s desire to lead us.  And why does He do this?  Why can we trust Him to guide us by such means as His providence, the counsel of other godly believers, and His Word which is “a lamp to (our) feet and a light to (our) path (Psalm 119:105)”?  Why can we be assured that if we “trust in the Lord with all (our) heart, and . . . not lean on (our) own understanding,” and if we “in all (our) ways acknowledge Him, . . . He will make straight (our) paths (Proverbs 3:5-6)”?  As the verse above from the wonderful 23^rd Psalm tells us, it’s for “His name’s sake.”  It’s the very reputation of Christ Himself that is on the line with His promises.  He will lead us if we follow Him so that in that following, He will be glorified.  It is as we follow the leading of Christ moment by moment and day by day that we let the light of the glory of the gospel that resides within us to shine before others.  It is as we do this that the world around us will “see (our) good works and give glory to (our) Father Who is in heaven (Matthew 5:16).”  You see, it’s not all about us.  No, our life is all about the One Who died for us.  He died so that we might live.  He came to seek and to save the lost.  It as we follow Him with our lives that He has wonderfully ordained to work in and through us to fulfill this mission and to make us “fishers of men.”  May God help us to continually look to Jesus, following the Shepherd Who leads us in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.  It’s what life is ultimately all about.  It’s in this following that one lives “life to the full (John 10:10).”