You've been there before, too; reading through the Word, hearing so much truth and feeling like you've gained applicable insights from what you've read, then BAM! you hit one of those lineages. This week for me, it was Genesis 5. Straight up nothing but this guy and his son and how long they lived, which don't get me wrong...it's interesting, especially when you consider that people were living up to age 969 years, but sometimes, I'll admit, I can get distracted in such passages.
So as I'm reading this chapter, one man in particular stands out: Enoch. Twice it's mentioned that 'Enoch walked with God." In a line up of lineages, one name after another, Enoch gets a descriptive sentence more than the rest. Why?
"Enoch walked with God."
Was he a successful business man? Did he faithfully love his wife? Was he a patient father? Was he a respected leader in the community?
Perhaps. Perhaps not. None of that is written (and I'm certainly not an authority and wouldn't dare to venture an assumption), but we do know that "Enoch walked with God."
As I've continued meditating on why Enoch's life "summary sentence" seems to jump off the page to me, the Lord has brought these things to mind:
1. The highlight of Enoch's life wasn't that he did good things or was a good person, but that he walked with God. In this season of life, it's valuable for me to keep in mind that no amount of doing good things can replace knowing Him. I want it to be said of me that I walked with God, that more than any other characteristic of my life, I would be known as someone who loves and knows Him.
2. When my time is done, what will my life amount to? My name, age, and children? Who my parents were? How successful my career was?
Or will people say, "She walked with God."
Psalm 39:5 "Behold you have made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath."
James 4:14 "Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes."
Our time is short. How are you using it?
So as I'm reading this chapter, one man in particular stands out: Enoch. Twice it's mentioned that 'Enoch walked with God." In a line up of lineages, one name after another, Enoch gets a descriptive sentence more than the rest. Why?
"Enoch walked with God."
Was he a successful business man? Did he faithfully love his wife? Was he a patient father? Was he a respected leader in the community?
Perhaps. Perhaps not. None of that is written (and I'm certainly not an authority and wouldn't dare to venture an assumption), but we do know that "Enoch walked with God."
As I've continued meditating on why Enoch's life "summary sentence" seems to jump off the page to me, the Lord has brought these things to mind:
1. The highlight of Enoch's life wasn't that he did good things or was a good person, but that he walked with God. In this season of life, it's valuable for me to keep in mind that no amount of doing good things can replace knowing Him. I want it to be said of me that I walked with God, that more than any other characteristic of my life, I would be known as someone who loves and knows Him.
2. When my time is done, what will my life amount to? My name, age, and children? Who my parents were? How successful my career was?
Or will people say, "She walked with God."
Psalm 39:5 "Behold you have made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath."
James 4:14 "Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes."
Our time is short. How are you using it?
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