I have decided to give all my readers some advice. I am not all that old, so for some, my advice may seem obvious. Hopefully, I am just old enough for it to not sound naïve.
What would be naïve advice?
I would say something like a twenty something year-old Instagram influencer advising a certain exercise for just 10 minutes a day for complete body transformation. I have been elite level fit in the past, but once you pass mid-thirties any exercise that took ten minutes to make an effect in your twenties is going to cost you at least two hours of pain beyond 35 years old.
Enjoy your peak physical condition while it lasts. Because it is temporary. Don’t obsess over it, use it. Enjoy it. I have found loving the Lord with all your strength is one of the most difficult things to do at your strongest. There are just so many ways to serve and please yourself instead. The truth is, no matter how you treat your body, it will rebel and fail you. Rather give it to God.
The resurrection and the reward for things done in the body is the only hope we have when it comes to our physical activities. Let your body become God’s body, because if it is God’s, it becomes eternal.
What would be obvious advice?
I hope, for any Holy Spirit filled believer, that the coming advice would seem obvious. While I still suffer bouts of forgetfulness, the path I have walked together with the Holy Spirit and my wife has illuminated something quite simple that stands in all complications.
This is it: Pray, and do not worry.
Jesus said it, and a Catholic priest by the name of Padre Pio also repeated it often whilst he was alive. A simple statement for a powerful life.
Worry is a defensive living position. It is the antithesis of kingdom living. Kingdom living is giving yourself in abandonment to God and His will, regardless of the outcome.
If you look at the cross and get worried, you will never pick it up. If you look at the cross and pray, you will be strengthened for the path ahead.
I can’t dispense advice on getting ahead in what would be considered the societal norms of success or happiness. If you want a house, two new cars and 2.5 children and a secure income, just do what everyone else seems to be doing. I do not know how they are doing it, but they are, so you can do it too.
If, however, you wish to chase after God with Abraham, and are looking and hoping for something yet to be seen, I could steer you a little in the way.
Get filled with the Holy Spirit.
Baptised, immersed, with fire. Then, follow the voice of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit-led life is like being a leaf in front of a tornado. It is a wild ride. Life becomes risky and rewarding, strange yet fulfilling. Real righteousness overpowers religious moralising, Peace prevails in upheavals and joy abounds during trouble and sorrow. You often do not know what will happen tomorrow, let alone next year. If you did not pray you would get worried!
My advice is nothing original.
I could write numbered lists or laws to follow like a New York Times best selling motivational personality. But who wants to live by letters, laws, and lists? We need to get to the essence of life: The Spirit of life, the Spirit of the law of life, The Spirit of God.
‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul, with all your strength. And love your neighbour as yourself.’ This command from God is the essence, or spirit, behind all law for life.
Whether we like it or not, so much of our lives is dictated by our DNA. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. We are the fruit of our family. A fundamental, transformational change of life needs a change of the DNA essence from which we live and move and have our being. (Could explain a lot of the reasoning behind the importance of gene therapy in the current ‘Great Reset’ and ‘new normal’ initiated for a post-covid humanity). Most of us never live a life beyond the limitations of our own gene pool.
But if our essence is of God, and we are born of the Spirit of God, we are swimming in a very, very deep pool. My advice? Get out of the shallows, and dive into the Infinite, eternal Spirit.
What a life!
Joshua Robbie is currently serving the Lord under Pastors Ronnie and Shirley Naidoo of KZN Celebration Centre in Tongaat South Africa. He and His wife Rene’ moved from Australia to South Africa in April 2016. Their desire is to help in whatever way they can so that the church can become all that God has purposed her to be. Josh is a painter by trade and also enjoys sports such as surfing, basketball and boxing. He has also written a book, now available for purchase on Amazon called: “Your Father sees: Living the sermon on the mount”.Josh Robbie previous articles may be viewed http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/josh-robbie.html