The Consistent Life
This weekend we celebrated my mama’s (southern for “mom”) 60th birthday. We surprised her by coming to visit and having a small dinner party with family and close friends. Nothing fancy, but very memorable. As we were preparing for her party, I began thinking of the things I’m most thankful for in my mother. The consistency with which she has lived her life immediately came to mind.
Consistency is a lost virtue to most individuals. Reason being…it requires purity. It requires the simplicity of seeking one thing. And in my mother’s case, this one thing has always been God.
I can remember waking up each morning as a child to the sound of my mother praying and crying out to God. Often times, her crying would make me nervous until I would walk in the living room and see her kneeling by the couch in prayer to her Father. It fueled everything she did in life from how she loved our family, to being an excellent secretary, to being a compassionate pastor’s wife.
If there is one statement my mother repeated to me growing up (when I would whine over having to clean the bathrooms every Saturday) it was “Anything worth doing is worth doing well.” She would firmly, yet lovingly, say this to me as she would point out that I did not do my best in my weekend chores. When I would get mad at having to then go back and “actually” clean the bathrooms, she would say, “You can get glad the same way you got mad.” And you know what, she was right. It was my choice.
And living a consistent, steadfast life is also a choice. The obstacle to consistency is not situations, other people, or our emotions. I have found the obstacle to consistency is our mind. We must surrender our minds to living consistently (“be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind…”)…consistently seeking God, consistently doing the right thing, consistently loving our family and others, consistently being the best employee we can be.
It is a choice, but understandably a decision that can bring weariness apart from our heavenly Father. David understood this when he asked God to “Create in me a clean heart and renew a steadfast spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10). Such a lifestyle also requires, as Davis points out, a pure heart.
For a life to truly be consistent all areas, seen and unseen, must be aligned. Being consistent at work but not at home does not equal a consistent life. Scientists will not use a measurement that is not consistent or reliable. In other words, if a scientific measurement changes when new variables or factors are introduced, it is not considered reliable (consistent). It must maintain consistently across a variety of environments and circumstances. Can you imagine the consequences of introducing a new medicine to the world without making sure it consistently fought the disease it was intended for in a variety of patients and environments? The cost would be deadly.
And so is a life lived inconsistently. Proverbs 3:33 (AMP) states, “The curse of the Lord is in and on the house of the wicked, but He declares blessed (joyful and favored with blessings) the home of the just and consistently righteous.”
Yes, we all have moments when we mess up in this area, but in those times, we must remember, as David did, to consistently turn to God to “renew a steadfast spirit within us.”
Thank you, mama, for teaching me by example to always strive to live a consistent life before God. Happy Birthday!
