Wednesday 28 September 2011

I like to think that I am like Rocky . . .


I like to think that I am like Rocky. Obviously no one can be as unbelievably handsome and eloquent! The bar is set impossibly high in said categories.
But I like to think I am like Rocky or at least I want to be like Rocky.
In pretty much every Rocky movie, Rocky has to improve to win. He has to get fitter, get harder and gain the eye of the tiger. I guess that’s what makes them such good movies is that that the hero is humble enough to know he has to get better.
I like to think I am like Rocky. Hopefully I am getting better at being me everyday but not in an arrogant I’m-better-than-you-now way. Everyday I hope that I will get closer to becoming the person God intended me to be. That’s my hope anyway.
Trouble is I don’t alway feel like I am doing that. I don’t always feel like I am making headway. While my heart is in the right place, I can’t always say that I live with more integrity than the day before.
A few days ago I ran across a bit in the Bible that encourages me and in a sense is becoming my “eye of the tiger” moment.
I have looked into these words a little and here is my best attempt at what I think the dude who wrote it meant, Proverbs 4:18 (PUPV*)

“As those living for God travel on life’s road, the light on the road becomes brighter and brighter until it is like the midday sun on a clear and cloudless day.”

Mmmm . . . I guess that the promise of this simple proverb, which is a wise saying, is that if you are honestly living for God then the light on your path becomes brighter. The progression from dawn’s first light until the sun is at it highest, hottest and brightest point.
I find that encouraging for 2 reasons:

1. If I sincerely and am simply trying to live my life the way God intended, the road will get brighter and clearer. In other words I will make headway. I will get better. Even when it doesn’t feel like it.

2. If my path is becoming brighter then hopefully it is helping someone else along the way. Following God’s way is never set in a private chat room. It will always overflow and like the sun brings light and life to everything it’s rays touch.

I think I may just have the eye of the tiger . . .


*PUPV - Phil's Unofficial Paraphrase Version