Guided By This One Thing
There is something powerful about clarifying how you live around an idea. Whether it’s a huge idea – world peace – or not so huge – no wire hangers ever – it can shape the opportunities you take on, the people you work with, and the goals you set for yourself.
A few years back, my life coalesced around one of these ideas, and it took the form of a scripture reference that I’ve been drawn to for some time.
It resides in the book of Luke in the New Testament. Jesus has entered the synagogue and is asked to read from scripture to the congregation. He’s given a scroll from Isaiah.
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”[a]20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
Luke 4:18-21
An emphatic mic drop. 🎤
We’re going to do these things. It was as if it was saying – This is the good news, the gospel, and if you are doing these things, you are a part of it. It clarified my purpose. The work that I do is rooted in this good news. Every time I have moved on to a new opportunity, it has been clarified by this picture of sacrificial service. Freedom. Sight. Favor. Seeking justice to overturn oppression, to free people.
This might be your guide. But it might be something else, and if you don’t have that guiding thing yet – seek it out.