Luke 16: Beyond Getting By

It seems the goal today is all too often survival.

Whether the pandemic, the election, or just 2020 in general, circumstances have caused us to dismiss our lofty ambitions and focus instead on mere persistence. We have seemingly surrendered 2020 and relegated ourselves from our rightful place as main characters to fleeting extras. Accordingly, our days now end with relief at completion vice satisfaction and renewed zeal.

Certainly a holding pattern or ‘gutting something out’ is a posture we must assume at times, but it is a temporary one. And we simply don’t know how long we will be afflicted by this pandemic and the associated restrictions. At the same time, we have been charged to accomplish much, both life and attitude wise. Capable of far more than marching forward, keeping our heads down, and staying out of trouble.

Jesus offers a perspective I find timely and encouraging:

...Streetwise people are smarter in this regard than law-abiding citizens. They are on constant alert, looking for angles, surviving by their wits. I want you to be smart in the same way—but for what is right—using every adversity to stimulate you to creative survival, to concentrate your attention on the bare essentials, so you’ll live, really live, and not complacently just get by on good behavior.
— Luke 16:8-9

I can’t say it any better than it is written, so I’ll simply ask: have you been ‘using every adversity to stimulate you to creative survival?’ I know I certainly have not. I have used this whole pandemic as more an excuse than a motivation. Yet, if I am holding true to the text, it should instead be spurning me forward so I might ‘really live.’

There is so much more than mere perpetuation. And regardless of circumstances, we can still experience it. We don’t have to wait until 2021, or the vaccine distribution, or herd immunity, but we can drive forward towards true fulfillment today.