X Marks the spot.

Getting out of the woulds sounds so elementary. Being lost in them, however, can be totally disorienting. Remembering our life destination, as mentioned Wednesday, may re-establish our bearings to some degree. Just the same, the intentional life requires more than directional instinct. And, that's a trip wire for most of us. It stands to reason: our natural inclinations are the number one reason we get lost in the woulds. Finding an intentional life after wandering aimlessly in the woulds will take purposeful preparation and positioning to get back on course, something beyond what comes to us naturally. This is especially true right now, with so much uncertainty about new normals.

As a believer my personal life destination should be God's Kingdom "on earth as it is in heaven." Being lost in the woulds is usually the result of misalignment of life priorities and distractions that cloud the intents and purposes of Kingdom living. With this Kingdom mindset are several definitive mile markers necessary for getting back on track. These include---

1. Do a spiritual inventory.

Scripture advises believers to "Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!" (2 Corinthians 13:5, ESV). To leave the comforts of the woulds I need to know my exact starting point. Performing a regular, honest spiritual inventory or personal assessment helps me mark the spot of my position with a bold X. When X marks the spot accurately, I have some idea of the life adjustments I need to make in order to implement God's plan of intentional living in my own experience. Now, there are many such assessments. If you'd like to explore this process in greater detail, go here for a spiritual inventory. This is a very detailed spiritual assessment designed by LifeWay Resources. Get into at least the basics so you can mark your current personal spiritual positioning with accuracy.

2. Follow directions.

Believers are given an incredible promise about living the Christian faith. Peter wrote, "His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness" (2 Peter 1:3, NIV). In this regard, God's gift to us in twofold. First, God the Holy Spirit lives in believers. John explained this gift when he wrote, "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you" (John 14:26, ESV). In this lesson plan God the Holy Spirit will teach us everything we need to know about intentional living. That is, if we follow his instructions.

Second, God has given us the Bible, truth without mixture of error, as guidance for Kingdom living. The writer of Hebrews explained Scripture in this way, "For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart" (Hebrews 4:12, ESV). God's Word discerns the thoughts and intentions of our hearts. Living according to his Word will clarify our intentions and help us activate the soul and spirit with the joints and marrow to fulfill them. Following instructions is the positioning system.

3. Pay attention.

God speaks to his people in many ways. I am always thankful for the work of Henry and Richard Blackaby in their classic discipleship study Experiencing God: Knowing and Doing the Will of God (B & H Books, Nashville: 2008). They explained that God speaks to us through the Holy Spirit in all things, through Scripture, through prayer, through the church, and through life circumstances. This means that God will direct his people out of the woulds into intentional living when we pay attention to his voice as he speaks. This is another hard assignment for us in such a loud, fast moving world. Paying attention is hard stuff.

These are three distinct ways we can do the will of our Father who is in heaven (see Matthew 7:21, ESV) and therefore enter his Kingdom. X marks the spot of our beginning place. Then, we follow directions and pay attention for our way out of the woulds and into the joys of intentional living.

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Lost in the woulds.

Meaning well isn't really a personal virtue. It usually identifies people who have good intentions but lack the wherewithal to deliver the worthy idea, action, or thought that momentarily flashed across their screen. Perhaps it's another mark of the spiritual and moral condition of our culture, that we are people of good intentions. Today, government is stalled, the church is in some sort of decline or redefinition, careers are pretty much a spin-the-bottle rotation with ever changing results, marriages are hit and miss, and young people are living in their parents attics until their thirties. It's a maybe world annotated with question marks. Right now millions of Americans live in the woulds. Some of us are lot there. Covid-19 still has us all stumped. You know, the world of good intentions.

Demographers like Gallup, the Pew Forum, the American Values Atlas, Barna Research, and many others summarize these cultural markings as indicators of a nation adrift. In my mind this translates to a nation with obscure beliefs being carried along by the currents of the times. Subsumed from the American landscape to the local living room it is life without direction, the unfocused reality of life defined by the complexity and velocity of the times rather than deeply held beliefs. For me it is most often the competition between my personal values and the moment, with the moment often winning the wrestling match for my limited resources. That I may actually have good intentions is really no salve for the wounds created by what I would have done in another set of circumstances. Most often, living in the woulds, at least for me, is a matter of destination.

Or, it should be. As a convictional Christian, my destination is the Kingdom of God. Faith reminds me that this Kingdom, as defined by Jesus, is a present reality and a future promise. Seeking his Kingdom first, as clarified by Jesus, should be the controlling interest of my life (see Matthew 6:33). Doing the Father's will while on this earth is my directional guarantee, along with confessing Jesus as Lord, of entrance to that Kingdom (see Matthew 7:21). My destination as a Kingdom person should actualize a more intentional approach to everything I do. Having a clear destination in life should move me from being lost in the woulds to being a person of the Kingdom in every life activity or pursuit, living intentionally.

We are hard wired to be governed by destination. Children know early on to ask, "Are we there yet?" when beginning any journey. Educators prime us for performance by casting our vision to the next grade. When doesn't the mention of Christmas at least temporarily draw our children back to sanity? How often we humans will forgo a momentary pleasure when saving for that dream vacation. The rigors of my knob year at The Citadel was often mediated by the dream of standing in that "long grey line", the arrival point of every person who walked through Lesesne Gate. The truth is that we are regulated in life by having clearly defined life destinations. It's a way out of the woulds.

Are you lost in the woulds? It wouldn't be that rare right now, in the lingering forever of this Covid-19 pandemic and the cultural tensions so obvious in every area of life. Many of us are struggling to find direction and meaning in this angry, seemingly senseless world. Maybe it's time for a gut check about our life destinations, something on a grander scale than with the man in the mirror. Perhaps our destinations have become secondary or tertiary or even farther down the line of life priorities. Wandering in the woulds isn't all that challenging or daring. Without clear destinations its just that, wandering in the uncertainty of what would be. Even more, it's often more than just meaningless wandering. Sometimes we're lost in the woulds. and can't find our way out. Take a moment for some soul searching. Clarify or renew your life destination right now.

My prayer for the day? "Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." (Matthew 6:10, ESV). Lord, get me out of the woulds and living intentionally.

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A face palm kind of world.

The sculpture Cain by Henri Vidal (1896) is a vivid expression of face palms, the action of bringing the palm of the hand to your face in exasperation, disbelief, frustration, or disappointment. You'd think people of faith, especially spiritual leaders, would be immune to such emotional shifts. Wrong. They may be even more prone to them.

Underneath the practice of faith are core beliefs that every believer and spiritual leader will usually embrace. They include---

1. The deep conviction that nothing is impossible with God (Matthew 19:26).

2. A corollary belief that God is always working in our lives (John 5:17).

3. The mystery that God is always working for our good (Romans 8:28).

Even the pessimists and glass-is-half-empty people in our ranks will ultimately depend on these foundational beliefs when assaulted by the emotional dark side. Still, there are occasions, evident in the lives of many of our biblical heroes, when the weight of the hour causes such a sudden jolt to our systems that the face palm is our most natural response. Please know that I'm not talking about the comic relief face palms, our humorous reaction to stupidity or acts beyond the scope of sanity. No, here we're dealing with serious face palms, those resulting from genuine angst.

Several face palm experiences are most prevalent in the lives of spiritual leaders, whether pastors, teachers, church staff, servants, or parents at many levels of church life, kingdom ministry, and daily family experience---

disappointment: when our expectations are not met.

discouragement: a loss of confidence or enthusiasm.

frustration: annoyance at our inability to change or achieve something.

disbelief: inability to accept something as true or real.

grief: a multifaceted response to loss.

shock: when we are surprised, dismayed, or offended.

And, of course, there are many others, the sea of emotions being so diverse. What is more, they are often mentioned in Scripture, especially in the writings of King David, the face palm moments of abandonment, opposition, incredible loss, and sense of frustration. There were even times when King David, a man after God's own heart, would feel separation anxiety that distanced him from God.

The Apostle Paul dealt with face palm moments too. Using a broad brush, he usually swept them into one category where the emotion of the moment would cause someone to lose heart. One of the most direct texts regarding the loss of heart is in his second letter to the Corinthians---

But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing

power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way,

but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted,

but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying

in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be

manifested in our bodies.

2 Corinthians 4:7-10, ESV

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner

self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is

preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we

look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For

the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18, ESV

You see, the earthen vessels is a reference to the limitations that define us. The human species is physically, emotionally, and spiritually defined. We're subject to the pain, suffering, and emotional distress of a fallen world. But, Paul asserts that believers are spiritually alive in Christ, and therefore, "...we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day." The disappointment, discouragement, frustration, disbelief, grief, shock and others are temporary, transient, momentary, and will pass away. But, the essential hope of our faith is eternal and will carry us in the day of our emotional crisis.

Of course, hope is the anchor of our soul and is eternal (Hebrews 6:19). His grace is sufficient for every circumstance (2 Corinthians 12:9), and he gives more grace (James 4:6). But, there is a catch to this face palm thing. Paul indicated that "...our inner self is being renewed day by day." It is the presumption that we are in a growing personal relationship with Jesus Christ and that we are being transformed to his likeness with every increasing glory (2 Corinthians 3:18). Here's praying it is more than an assumption.

Like it or not, we live in a face palm kind of world, especially under the demands of Covid-19 during the past few months. . Incredible and unbelievable things are happening as secularism invades even the sanctity of our faith. But, we have a Christ who lives in us (John14:17). Because he is near, we quickly move our palms from the face into the air to glorify him.

Lift up your hands to the holy place and bless the LORD!

Psalm 134:2, ESV

And, yes, there will still be the comic kind of face palm. As they say, you can't fix stupid.

Cain by Henri Vidal, Tuileries Garden, Paris, 1896. Cain is depicted after killing his brother hiding his face in his hand. From Wikipedia.