Lent Day 6 - Align
What do crooked teeth, twisted train tracks and unbalanced wheels have in common? They all need alignment. They all require straightening so they can function correctly, and fulfil what they are designed for and destined to do. What do our distorted thoughts, divided hearts and desperate actions need when things are badly dislocated? Yes, you guessed right, they all need alignment too. Our heads, our hearts and our hands need to come into line with our Creator – even more so when things are out of order and topsy-turvy – or we will suffer needlessly.
Align is a verb of French origin and in plain English means: to place something in a straight line as to be parallel. To align with another person implies coming together in agreement in order to move as one in the same direction.
In John 6:40, Jesus says that it is the will of God for us to believe in him. I like the way Eugene Peterson, translator of The Message, expounds this as an active belief by using the term align in this verse. He helps us understand that believing in Jesus is not just a thought, but true belief involves our whole soul – mind, heart and body – all participating in agreement alongside Jesus himself.
As we wait in the blackened space of sorrow, I know full well how easy it is to slip out of alignment with Jesus. Thankfully, the Man of Sorrows (Isa. 53:3, nkjv) knows the way back. Jesus draws us again, and again, into alignment with him as we spend time remembering and obeying his Word. As we come to know him more and more, his allowance of difficult and painful things can be used to correct our twisted thinking, selfish motives and unbalanced behaviours.
Jesus is the divine ‘plumbline’ to healthily measure everything against. Even ‘minor’ corrective life-alignments can be painful, but they are absolutely necessary so we don’t run off the road and crash. Yes, the discomfort of alignment is real, but the pain of not submitting to alignment is far worse. I used to hate the idea of God’s corrective hand upon my life, but now I have come to look for and embrace his merciful alignment. Remember, precious child of God, the Lord correctly realigns those whom he loves.
The alignment of our entire being into the perfect life of Jesus, the ‘chief cornerstone’,2 involves hard and holy work. Let us resist any temptation to imagine a Father sternly standing on the line with his arms crossed, waiting until we are ‘perfect’ before he aligns himself with us. No, the truth is that as soon as we make the smallest move towards him, we find he is already there . . . graciously waiting with his hands held out to receive us. He is always kind and ready to transform us into complete alignment with his Son.
Yes! Integral wholeness is ours when we line up with God’s truth about who he is, who we are, and our relationship with him and his world.
Taken from Waiting Well With Jesus by Lynda Wake
Ruth O’Reilly-Smith helps us to slow down, listen to God and respond to him in this beautiful devotional journal.
Each week has a different word to reflect on, along with personal stories, Bible references, journal reflections and a prayer, gently helping you to draw nearer to God who understands your pain and grief.
In the midst of our own heartbreak, Lynda gently reminds us of our breath-taking inheritance in Christ, discovering rich treasures along the way that can only be sought and found through a costly veil of tears.
God, I invite your searching gaze into my heart. Examine me through and through; find out everything that may be hidden within me. Put me to the test and sift through all my anxious cares. See if there is any path of pain I’m walking on, and lead me back to your glorious, everlasting way – the path that brings me back to you. Ps. 139:23–24, tpt