The Responsive Life

What if our prayer was a response to God instead of something we ourselves initiated?  (Actually, it is, though we seldom realize it.)

What if our lives were a response to God, instead of a list of things to do?  What if we got up each morning listening to direction instead of saying, "I need to do....."?

I think this is the way Jesus lived His life.  He said, "The Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees the Father doing, because whatever the Father does, the Son also does" (Jn. 5:19).

Last Thursday, I went to hear James Meredith speak.  Meredith integrated the U. of Miss. in 1961, with the help of John F. Kennedy and the federal marshalls, who walked him to every class and to his dorm for 4 years. Now, Meredith has a new mission from God, and it is one I wish every person in America would listen to.  He wants not only access to education for black children, but success, something the government cannot do.  He has a plan for elders in the black churches to shepherd every child born within two miles of the church.  It is a simple but great idea, and that is all he will talk about today.

Meredith will not talk about 'things that happened 50 years ago,' in his words.  He says that, for  years, whenever anyone would give him an accolade about courage or determination, etc., he would think to himself: If this fool thinks that I did this, I'm not going to convince him otherwise; I'll just say, 'Thank you.'

Now, however, he refuses the compliment.  He affirms that what he did was his destiny, his mission from God.  From early on, he was told by his parents and the elders of the church that he would be the one to restore dignity to his people, that he had been sent for this reason.  He says, "I did not do this; I was never afraid.  I was a dead man; I had no life other than the one God gave me."

Meredith clearly understands that his life was given by God for a purpose, and that God did the work in him and through him.  He just walked the path he was shown to walk.  He led the 'responsive' life.

I too want to walk the path laid out for me by God Himself.  I do not want to do great things, but only to respond to the work God does in me, for me, and through me.  He knows far better than I do what can be done and what cannot be done through this person He made, and He will not fail to carry out all that He desires to do in me.

Open my ears, Lord, that I might hear Your Voice and respond today!