Ultimately, people want to live – truly live. This is quite natural, given that our Creator breathed into humanity the breath of life at the beginning of time.
Sadly, many people who live biologically are inwardly dead. Their lungs are taking in air, and their hearts are beating; but their spirits are dead with the weight of sadness, guilt, hopelessness, futility, and fear.
Medical doctors can work on the body, but it takes an infinitely better Physician to work on the spirit.
The ancient – yet timeless – book of Psalms outlines the process of coming to realize the vitality of genuine living. The writer says of God, “For you have delivered my soul from death, yes, my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of life” (Psalm 56:13, ESV). Here we observe three critical components of a life of vitality.
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1) God delivers the soul from death. No matter how our pride may fight against this truth, it takes God to deliver a soul from death. The wages of our sin brings death – first spiritual, and eventually physical (Romans 6:23). No slick mental tricks or serious psychological manipulation can erase the guilt of a heart in rebellion against the God of the Bible. Once we come to terms with our sinful heart by the conviction of God’s own Spirit, we can ask God to give us life by making our heart new through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. His blood which was shed on the Cross pays for the guilt of my sin, and His life (evidenced by the Resurrection) provides life to me. Here it is again: His blood pays, and His life provides.
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2) God delivers our feet from falling. Simply amazing is the provision of God for the daily minutes and hours of life. Not only has He given vitality to my soul by the forgiveness of sins and restoration of life, He promises to keep my feet from falling as I walk through this world on a regular basis. This portion of Scripture gets down to the nitty-gritty!
Real living – beyond the basics of biology – requires the security of knowing that we are being guided and protected by the One who can assure the outcome. Each moment of each day, we can depend on our Savior to keep our feet from falling – into demise, hopelessness, and trial outside the will of God. We can even rely on our Savior to provide what we need in order that we will not fall into sin. Though as humans we will not be perfect until we finally see Jesus face-to-face; there exists no excuse for our sin, because God can deliver our feet from falling.
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3) God allows me to walk before Him in the light of life. Here it is – the culmination of real living. Darkness of soul is gone, and we can live our moments before the face of God without dread. We know that we stand clean before Him because of Jesus, and there is no need to hide. We can now truly relate to others, for we are walking in the transparency of God’s light.
For those God has delivered, death is swallowed up in victory (I Corinthians 15:54b). Not only can we live before Him with hope now, we know that we will live forever before Him in glory that cannot be fully understood or described this side of eternity.
Do not allow death to stay. Do not allow life to pass you by. Let God deliver you.