I've been attempting to read a book lately. Now, I realize that that statement either makes me sound illiterate or as if I don't read often but in fact neither of those options are correct. Clearly, I am not completely illiterate, since I am using that word, and I love to read. Granted, I don't get to read for pleasure very often now that I am busy with school but I am trying to read through a book. My goal is to have it read by Christmas; so far, it doesn't look as if that goal will be accomplished. Anyway, the book is Joshua Harris's most recent (that I know of) Dug Down Deep. He says that this book is about how he "learned to dig into truth and build [his] life on a real knowledge of God" (back cover). This is something I've really been striving to do. I really want to know God, to know about Him and to have a personal relationship with Him. In the first chapter, Joshua Harris touches on something that I've been observing more and more in the society around me. He talks about King Josiah and how "his generation was rushing past him, flooding down the easy paths of man-made religion, injustice, and immorality.
They didn't stop to look for a different path.
They didn't pause to consider where the easy path ended.
They didn't ask if there was a better way.
But Josiah stopped. He stood at the crossroads, and he looked. And then he asked for something that an entire generation had neglected, even completely forgotten. He asked for the ancient paths." (pg. 13). Harris then goes on to define what the ancient paths are in our present context. Not in our context as in how we can change them so that they fit more comfortably with our society, as we seem to do with so many biblical rules and laws, but in the context of Jesus Christ's coming. Harris says that "walking in the ancient paths still means relating to God on his terms. It still means receiving and obeying his self-revelation with humility and awe" (pg. 13).
I feel as if I am in a similar place as King Josiah, in my own little way. I feel that my generation is rushing by me. I'm just don't want them to take me with them. I want to be able to choose the ancient paths, but how? Is it simply a matter of reading my Bible everyday and praying a couple times a day? Or is it much more than that? How do I commit myself to the ancient paths but still be a relevant influence to the said rushing generation? I want to really be able to live out Colossians 4:5-6, which says "Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders, make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be aways full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone" (NIV). I guess I need to do what Joshua Harris did, to "dig into truth and build my life on a real knowledge of God." Hopefully that will lead me to the ancient paths. And hopefully Joshua Harris will be able to nudge me on my way to that digging and building.
