ORDERED LIFE

 ^“The earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.” Genesis 1:2 NRSV

This book of beginnings commences with a statement of belief and an expression of confidence in the Supreme Being who began to order and reorder realities. The story’s intention is to give a lesson in the theological ordering of things rather than one in physics or biology. Consequently, V. 2 is the key to understanding the story. Before God commenced Creation, there was no shape or character to anything, and everything was empty. Formlessness!  The redactor tells us that God brought form and order where there was formlessness and disorder. The Creation story ends with God expressing divine satisfaction with the product of God’s ordering. Chaos cannot reign supreme when God steps on the scene. 

God is in the business or shaping, ordering and bringing soberness to our lives. In recognizing human frailties, the General Confession says: “Grant, O most merciful Father… That we may hereafter live a godly, righteous, and sober life, To the glory of thy holy Name”.  I learnt this at Mt. Ward, Jamaica, but understood and appreciated it in 1988 when a homebound member of La Grange Methodist church in Guyana prayed this sentence and repeated the plea, “Lord help me to live a sober life”, four times. As I departed, the phrase “sober life” kept ringing in my ears. A “righteous and sober life” is a well ordered life. It’s a life with form, purpose, direction and shape.  A “godly, righteous, and sober life” is an Ordered Life.

An Ordered Life is an absolutely beautiful and promising life. It is a life that is under the influence and control of the Holy Spirit, and it reflects the beauty of Jesus. It is an inviting and appealing life that always seeks to bring glory to the name of Jesus. Young and old alike will gravitate towards such a life. Ordered lives are purpose driven, divinely directed, focused, have character, care for and protect the vulnerable ones amongst us, not self-centered and are capable of looking through the gloom and doom of our lived realities and anticipate the unfolding of a glorious and better experience.

The ordering of our lives is not a once-and-for-all experience. It is a lifelong process. God’s ordering and reordering of my life took a decisive turn in 1974 when I made the first conscious decision to accept God’s love for me and resolved to allow God to direct the course of my life. This has taken me above and beyond human expectations. God is still shaping me. God is still sorting out some of my kinks.  Did I hear you say “In me too”?

Let’s join American Quaker, John Greenleaf Whittier, and ask God to “Take from our souls the strain and stress and let our ordered life confess the beauty of thy peace.”

Thought: “A well-ordered life is like climbing a tower; the view halfway up is better than the view from the base, and it steadily becomes finer as the horizon expands”. William Lyon Phelps

Prayer Focus: Pray for those with disordered and improperly shaped lives.