NorthStar Community Daily Devotional

Having Heart In A Sometimes Heartless Word

Day 151 – The path to peace

Scripture focus: Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies. Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. Psalm 34:12-14 NIV

During a Saturday Night Celebration Service, we entered into a lively debate about the meaning of “good.” Mainly, the word itself triggered a lot of shame and self-doubt. People who haven’t been able to perform up to the world’s standards and manage to maintain an appearance of “goodness” freak out when someone dares to suggest that they might want to consider becoming a “good” person.

I understand. There are plenty of areas in my life - no matter how much I desire a different outcome - that I’ve learned to expect defeat. My husband regularly defeats me at tennis. Annihilates is probably a better word. One summer when his shoulder was completely useless, I was filled with hope. I made us play tennis practically every night. Figuring that a one-armed man could be beaten, I took my best shot. That crafty guy still managed to squeak out more victories than defeats.

I love to play tennis with my husband. We enjoy a night under the lights with a cool breeze skimming over our sweaty limbs as we battle for the next point like our livelihood depended upon it. My dilemma is this: which do I love more – playing the game of tennis with my husband, or victory? If victory is my desired outcome, than I must abandon the game. I’ve chosen to love the game more than the outcome. This frees me to enjoy the battle without becoming overly concerned about the score. I’ve discovered that I can win some points. Once in a while, my cross-court backhand works. Occasionally, I leave my man standing flat footed in the middle of the court. More times than he cares to admit, he flubs an easy shot into the net. His serve is sometimes awesome, but I’ve even been known to win a few points off of his double-faults. I can love the game of tennis and celebrate the victories in the moment, without needing to win the set.

All of us desire to love our lives and see many good days. We won’t always succeed at keeping our tongue from evil and our lips from speaking lies. We will sometimes be drawn to evil like a moth to flame. And we may desire to do good, but sometimes find that we don’t even know how to accomplish our best intentions. We may seek peace and even pursue it, only to run smack into conflict.

So I don’t exactly know how to do “good” all day every day. But I’m loving the game. I’m enjoying the process of asking myself the question, “What do you mean by good today, Lord?” Most of us can’t beat Pete at tennis (I do hear he’s very vulnerable right now on the golf course) but I’m not so sure winning was ever on God’s top ten list of prevailing purposes anyway. It’s my prayer that for today, we get in the game. Ask the hard questions. Anticipate the sweet victory of a well placed shot. Go for it!

Recommended reading: 2 Samuel 14 and 15 in the morning; John 18 in the evening