Following the Pictograph for living (1 Peter 2:21) with some words from Alfred Tennyson.

SCRIPTURE: 1 Peter 2:21 (TM)

This is the kind of life you've been invited into, the kind of life Christ lived. He suffered everything that came his way so you would know that it could be done, and also know how to do it, step-by-step.

STORY:

Lester Welliver tells the story of a small boy, just learning to write, ended a letter to his uncle in this way: “I send you my love. I hope you live all your life.”

And then these words by Alfred Tennyson in “The Two Voices”:

Whatever crazy sorrow saith,

No life that breathes with human breath

Has ever truly long’d for death.

‘Tis life, whereof our nerves are scant,

Oh, life, nor death, for which we pant;

More life, and fuller, that I want.

OBSERVATION:

Just read the instruction book. Good advice under normal conditions. But sometimes it seems the instruction book has been written in a foreign language or by someone who has a difficult time explaining a simple task. Just read the instruction book … really?

Bless the dear soul who developed the pictograph. Pictures are so much easier to follow than the old standby of connecting A to B after twisting E into F. Bring on those pictographs.

Recently I heard someone referred to the Bible as Life’s Instruction Book. Really? Instruction books are hard to understand some of the time … most of the time. Oh, wait I’ve done that myself. Oops!

Bring on the pictograph for life … and God did. The pictograph is Jesus. Want to know how to live … look to Jesus. Need to know how to handle situations … look to Jesus. Faced with a challenge … look to Jesus. His life is a step-by-step model on how to live … so that we can live all of our life!

More life we want. More complete and total life! A fuller life. A meaningful life. A deeply enriching life. We want life … well, then just follow the example provided by the man riding into the city of Jerusalem on the donkey … blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! He will show us the way!

PRAYER:

Thank you for making it much easier than we can ever imagine. The instructions for living a full and meaningful life are not complicated. Thank you gracious God for giving us a living example of how to live our life.