A quick google search will find you 2,880 different “world records” for different balancing acts. You’ll find thousands of desperate attempts at fame such as: “longest time on balance beam while also singing and playing the ukulele” (3 minutes 35 seconds) or “most hockey pucks balanced on the forehead” (31) and even “longest time balancing a running lawnmower on chin” (3 minutes 34 seconds). Many of the attempts at balancing are rather pathetic, but a few are actually quite impressive. Some people have even become world famous for their incredible feats of balance. Philippe Petit, for example, wowed onlookers by crossing between the towers of the World Trade Center in 1974.

You may not have ever found yourself with a ridiculous amount of hockey pucks on your forehead or shaken in fear of tipping off the high wire and falling to your death, but have you ever had more to do than time to do it? Have you ever had so many things vying for your attention that you didn’t know which way to turn? So many responsibilities and passions that you didn’t know where to place your concentration? It’s easy for your life to begin to feel like an intricately complicated balancing act far more difficult than holding up a hockey puck because you are trying to balance all the different aspects of your life all of which are unique in their size, weight, and shape. How are you supposed to hold up your work, family life, church involvement, time spent with God, hobbies, duties at home, and maintain your social life all at the same time?

That was the question I recently heard asked, “how are you to balance all of the different parts of your life?” How much do you put into your school work or how much effort do you put into your job in order to do it well, but not get lost in it and to still have time for God? I’ve been there with all the different parts of my life precariously propped up by my varying amounts of time and effort, everything carefully stacked upon each other. The problem was that if a little bit of effort was diverted somewhere else or time spent on the wrong thing that perfect balance that was holding everything up would be thrown off and everything would fall crashing down in a mess causing a domino effect of destruction. So what are we to do?

Stop the Balancing Act

Stop trying to get a perfect balance and exhausting yourself holding everything up. You can’t, at least not for long. The answer isn’t to divide up all you have and put 60% towards God, 20% towards work, 10% towards church, 5% into entertainment, and 5% into double checking your math to make sure you have all your percents. The Bible doesn’t speak in those terms. The Bible doesn’t divide our lives up like that as if each part is autonomous of the others. Instead, God says things like, “Seek first the Kingdom of God” and “Love the Lord your God with ALL your heart, mind, and soul.”  We are to go all in on God. 100% of all that we have, all of our time, all of our effort, all of our love, all of our mind, and all of our body go to God. That’s the perfect balance. It all goes to Him.

Our lives are not intended to be lived out as a conglomerate of individual self-sustained parts. If you are a Christian, you do not get to have different lives: church life, work life, social life, and family life. You have one life and all of those seemingly separate aspects of your life are all linked together. And all of them should be driven by your relationship with God. When you give God all that you have, all of those different parts come together to form the whole. That is when they all can be sustained.

When God is in control of all we have we can give everything else the attention that it needs. It isn’t as though we now don’t go to work, or take care of our homes, or spend time with family, but In giving everything to God He will then direct the rest of our lives. The Bible says that if we seek first the kingdom of God He will take care of everything else.

Colossians 3:23 states whatever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not to men. This breaks down the separation of life categories we tend to create. If we give God 100%, that means how we function at school and work, how we interact with friends and family, what we do at church and how we serve all flow out of our relationship with God. Now instead of struggling through trying to decide for yourself how to operate in all these areas, you ask God what He would have you do in those situations. He is in control of it all and seeks to be glorified in every aspect of your life, so you can bet that He will direct you through it all.

Think of those old school balances with a plate to hold weights on either side. As you add more weight to one plate, the other goes up, take weight from one and the other goes down. Now imagine one of those with enough plates to represent each area of your life. You can carefully distribute all that you have evenly trying to keep any from falling, desperate to keep everything in the air and not leave one neglected. But as things change and grow you will constantly have to be adjusting.  You will constantly have to be adding to and taking away to keep everything in the air. Or, instead, you could put all the weight, all the time, all the efforts, all of who you are squarely in the middle of the plate for God. There will be no fear of anything moving, no fear of anything crashing to destruction because everything is being held up by what you have given to God.

God calls us to a lot. He has a lot for us to do and to consider. If you try to figure it all out on your own you will fail, you will not be able to hold everything up in perfect balance indefinitely. So do not even try, instead give it all to God. Not because you want Him to uphold all those other areas of your life. Not so he can help you succeed at work, school, and church. Give it all to Him because He is worth it. He already gave it all to you.   

When I was a boy, names like Walter Payton, Jerry Rice, and Dan Marino were hard to avoid. Kids like me pretended to be guys like them at recess. They could run & catch & throw a football like no one else on the planet, which made 1987 a memorable year in my childhood, not to mention the entire world of sports. These illustrious men, along with many of their athletically gifted contemporaries suddenly refused to play the game they were all so tailor made & handsomely paid to play. After appearing for the first two games of the season, 85% of the athletes in the National Football League went on strike, refusing to compete any longer. To their surprise, they were met with rigidly strong opposition from team ownership that would rival the most rugged linebackers in the league. One online article states, “The players had no idea just how determined the owners were to break their solidarity”.

On Sept. 10, the Chicago Tribune reported that the team owners voted unanimously to push through a player strike by signing “anyone willing to wear a uniform”. In response to the strike, they hired a ragtag group of bartenders, firefighters, and insurance salesmen to take the field in place of those who refused to do their job. The Washington Redskins hired a quarterback on work-furlough from prison. The defending champion N.Y. Giants found Mike Busch bagging groceries for $4 an hour, and hired him to replace M.V.P. Phil Simms. One way or another, willing men were found, rosters were filled up, and the game went on. Dallas Cowboys president Tex Schramm supposedly made the remark, “You guys are cattle and we’re the ranchers,” at a bargaining session that September. “And ranchers can always get more cattle”.

BARELY WORTH WATCHING…

These replacement players were hardly professionals. Sources report that “Four or five of them got together and bought a used car for 500 bucks so they had transportation. The hardest thing they had to do was find a coat and tie to wear on an away game”. Another article describes how, while playing in New York, “Cowboys’ receiver Cornell Burbage reached into the stands during the game, grabbed a package and placed it under the bench. It was a box of laundry Burbage’s sister had washed for him. He couldn’t afford to have his clothes cleaned at the hotel”. Mocked & scorned by the superstars they replaced and by the country that watched them, these men would quickly come to be labelled and forever remembered as “scabs”. Television ratings dropped, and for good reason. Instead of watching All-Pro wide receiver Jerry Rice, we had to watch a guy named Carl Monroe. Instead of Dan Marino, it was a water aerobics teacher from Texas named Kyle Mackey. I don’t remember any of my friends ever pretending to be Kyle Mackey at recess.

GOOD WHILE IT LASTED…

What turned out to be a momentous disappointment to thousands of NFL fans from coast to coast proved to be the thrill of a lifetime for the scabs. If only for a moment, nameless truck-drivers & bouncers were able to touch the NFL dream. And these men weren’t just “lucky” either. This was much more than some “good fortune”. These men, as unprepared & amateur as they were, had been sought out…chosen for one reason or another, to play on the same field, under the same lights, wearing the same colors, as the league’s biggest names. They didn’t win a lottery; they were offered a position. And they took it. And the only reason these guys ever got the opportunity to run with the ball is because someone else refused to stay on the field. These men played with the understanding that none of them deserved to be there, and that every game could be their last. The strike could end at any time, and if they were going to score any points or make any tackles, they needed to do it while they still had the chance to get it done.

In the end, the NFL strike of 1987 only lasted for a few weeks. The stand-off came to a close, the professionals returned to the field, and nearly all of the replacements were cut from their respective teams and sent back home. Three short games didn’t leave them with much time to make their mark in the NFL history books, but they did it. Maybe not individually, like the Dan Marino’s and the Walter Payton’s do, but collectively, as a team. They were “The Scabs”. And they haven’t been forgotten.

CHANCE OF A LIFETIME…

Jesus says that we are the “poor & the maimed, the lame & the blind” (Lk.14:21). God says He’s chosen the “foolish, weak, & despised” (I Cor.1:27-28). You & I were found in the streets & lanes of the city and given a last-minute offer to attend The Great Supper. We’re nothing more than a ragtag collection of factory workers, teachers, & retailers that were found in apartments, dorms, bars, & parking lots. We’ve been drafted into the biggest contest this world has ever known. And the only reason we were brought in from the “highways & the hedges” to play this game at all is because the first-round draft picks declined their invitation. It’s very likely that somebody else was supposed to be doing for Christ what you’ve been given the opportunity to do, but they just didn’t want to do it anymore.

I wonder how many of us hold positions in the church that were once filled by somebody else who vacated that position abruptly, out of self-centeredness or spite? Blinded by pride & distracted by worldly enticements, they forgot what a privilege it was to do what they do, and they walked off the field. But the Kingdom of God, much like the National Football League, won’t be cancelled just because someone isn’t willing to participate. The team roster is going to be filled no matter what. That’s why you were sought out. There was a vacancy, and you got the call; you’ve been made a once-in-a-lifetime offer. Now are you willing to wear the uniform or not?

It was reported that, “Most of the NFL’s scab rosters (in 1987) were stocked with ordinary dudes from all walks of life who were delighted to jump at the opportunity to play NFL football, even if only nominally and even if just for a fleeting moment”. That should be how we feel as Christians! We’ve been drafted into the service of Christ the King, contending for the glory of our Team Owner! We compete for an eternal prize, not one that fades away like the Vince Lombardi Trophy. We’re on the same field as Paul & Peter, and that should mean something to us! We’re playing under the same lights as Daniel & David, and no one should have to tell you what an honor that is! You’re wearing the same team colors as Jonathan & Joshua & Jacob, and if you aren’t jumping at the opportunity to serve the Lord, “even if only nominally, and even if just for a fleeting moment”, then you’re playing this game for wrong reasons. If you find yourself beginning to feel entitled, and you start entertaining thoughts of going on strike, please remember, it’s not beyond the Team Owner to find someone else with more passion than you have, and let them play in your stead. He’s done it before…

Ranchers can always get more cattle you know.

FINISH THE GAME…

The Washington Redskins were the team that would go on to win Super Bowl XXII that season, thanks in part to their replacement players (or “Scab-skins” as they were called). They pointed their team toward a championship year by winning all three games they were allowed to play. They weren’t professional by any means, but they took their call seriously and got the job done. In March of this year (2018; thirty years after their Super Bowl victory), Redskins team president Bruce Allen announced that the replacement players, the scabs, would all receive Super Bowl rings of their own for the small, but very significant role they played, in their team’s historic victory. Nobody would ever have thought it possible, but those “ordinary dudes from all walks of life” have now become official Super Bowl champions. And this, of course, would include Tony Robinson…

…the quarterback that was hired on work-furlough from prison.

Now, if you’re anything like me, you sometimes feel a bit vulnerable out here on the mission field; under-qualified & unprepared. Nobody needs to remind me that I’m not a professional. No one needs to tell me that someone else could do it better than I am. I’m just a scab. We all made it here on a fluke. But so what? Isn’t it thrilling? Let’s enjoy it while it lasts…even if just for a fleeting moment! Never again will you get an opportunity like this. Never. This is our shot. Let’s endure the mockery and play hard…as hard as we can. Don’t stop until this game is over.

We might not be much fun to watch, but we’re doing what we love; and we might not be too good at what we do, but at least we’re on the field. Nobody will ever know your name, but the world will always remember who we are.

We’re the Replacements. We are the Scabs.

I was once (and ever so briefly) part of a ministry that did some work in California. Years ago, a team of volunteers (myself included) travelled out West together in a great big, 72-passenger school bus, with only one of us in the entire group who was legally qualified to drive it. His name was “Wayne” and Wayne had a Commercial Driver’s License, so Wayne became our chauffeur by default. The trip was over 30 hours on the return, and Wayne drove the whole way, by himself, non-stop, without sleeping. Needless to say, we needed Wayne.

This was risky business. Falling asleep at the wheel, at any point along the way, would have been bad for not only Wayne, but for each passenger stuck in the bus with him…and everybody knew it. That’s why we all took turns up front, sitting on an upside-down pail, right next to Wayne as he drove. All through the night someone was there talking to him, listening to him, watching, sometimes praying. We did whatever we had to do to keep him awake so he could keep on driving. My shift was in the wee hours of the morning, and it was challenging in more ways than one. Not only was there the loss of sleep to cope with, but I also knew that if Wayne crashed the bus, it would be partly my fault. Lives were on the line, so Wayne and I worked together that night. It would be fair to say that Wayne probably did as much to keep me awake as I did for him, but we both made it through the night unharmed.

Not every trip, however, ends as well as ours did. In Polk County, MN on May 7^th of this year, a bus driver fell asleep at the wheel, lost control of his vehicle, and injured a dozen students. Or a couple of months before that in Washington County, TN when a bus driver dozed off, crashed into a tree, and sent 5 students to the hospital. Needless to say, people can get hurt when someone thinks they can drive all the way from “point-A” to “point-B” without any help, especially when they get tired & fall asleep at the wheel somewhere in between. Stories like that aren’t hard to come by if you have access to Google.

…or a church.

We’ve seen lots of folks come into our fellowship over the years who started out with a fair amount of enthusiasm. It lasted for a while, but as the miles ticked by, their interest faded, and lethargy set in. The drive got monotonous and they slipped into what you might call “highway hypnosis”, where they were still going forward, but no longer conscious of it. Even now, I’ll bet it’s happening to some people. They’re getting drowsy. They’re going right along with the traffic flow of church-life like they always do, but they aren’t really paying attention anymore. They’ve been on the road long enough to “settle in”, and a quick nap doesn’t seem as dangerous as it used to. They’ve surrendered themselves to a certain dose of non-lethal sin that’s produced nothing but spiritual drowsiness. The diminishment of their Christian joy & zeal is one of the most obvious side-effects. They’re no longer impressed by deeply significant matters. They’re drifting off to sleep…

 

…And somebody needs to wake them up!

 

You have a responsibility toward everybody else in the fellowship that you may be overlooking. You’re supposed to be paying attention to those around you within the community of believers, talking to them, listening to them, watching them to see if their eyes are still on the road like they should be, and to warn them when they start nodding off. The Lord has told us to do this for one another, and refusing to do so is sin. If they crash the bus, it might be your fault:

“Be careful dear brothers and sisters. Make sure that your own hearts are not evil & unbelieving, turning you away from the living God. You must warn each other every day, while it is still “today,” so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God. For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ” Hebrews 3:12-14

Are you taking your responsibility seriously? What do you do when you see somebody growing cold in their worship? Do you talk to them about it, or are you afraid of bothering them? It’s important to remember that, at this point, we’re all still riding in the same vehicle. Be aware that your own survival, in part, depends on whether you keep the people around you alert to the dangers they face. If you neglect them, they’re liable to turn away from Christ, and if they do, who’s going to keep you from falling asleep like they did? If they drive off the road and crash into a ball of flames, what makes you think that you won’t get hurt yourself? The spiritual lethargy of your fellow passengers should be making you uneasy & anxious. If it doesn’t trouble you, maybe it’s because you’re the one dozing off.

A pilgrimage like ours is a dangerous trek, and none of us are meant to walk alone. Accountability is the golden thread that God has woven into the cloth of Christian fellowship, and when that thread gets pulled out, the entire fabric of a man’s life starts to unravel. We need each other. Some drivers don’t like to admit it, but it’s true of us all:

“Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble. A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken” (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12).

When our ministry team left California that summer, we all trusted Wayne to help us get home safely, and Wayne trusted us to do the same for him. We needed Wayne, but Wayne also needed us. As good a driver as he was, Wayne couldn’t have made it home without our support. Somewhere along the way he’d have fallen asleep and we’d all have been sorry. But unlike some trips, our journey had a happy ending. We made it home safe. All of us. Together.

We all want to get home safe, don’t we? Well then, let’s help each other stay awake.

The Disciples were drained…

Having spent the entire day absorbing doctrinal lessons on an empty stomach (Mk.6:31-34) would have left them mentally exhausted. When the teachings were finally finished there was still plenty more to do. Though the day was already “far spent”, the Disciples (at Christ’s command), served 5,000 men (+ women & children) the best all-you-can-eat buffet in the history of mankind, which would have left them physically taxed to say the least. Compounding the difficulty of an already challenging day was the fact that it all began with the tragic news of John the Baptists recent murder (Mt.14:12-13). In considering those few details, it goes without saying that these Disciples were maxed out; mentally, physically, and emotionally. They had been with Jesus all day long, obeying His every command from morning till night…and it wasn’t even over yet.

After they had finished cleaning up the mess, Jesus “immediately made His Disciples get into a boat and go before Him to the other side of the lake” (Matthew 14:22 says the same thing: Jesus “made” them do it). This wasn’t an option, this was an order. They weren’t given a choice. It was time now for more obedience. This is a remarkable situation: It’s already late, they’re absolutely drained, they’ve had no rest and nothing to eat, they’re still bearing the emotional weight of the loss of a spiritual brother, and yet, the commands just keep coming. It’s almost as if Jesus is pushing His men into a place where they will fail. Does He even want them to get to the other side of the lake?

Four miles in to an eight mile journey, the boys were met with trouble. The wind had shifted and was now against them, kicking up waves and preventing them from paddling any further. They were stopped in their tracks; stuck in the middle of the sea. “Straining at rowing” (Mk.6:48) was all they could do to keep from going backwards, and with little energy left, the situation was hopeless. Failure to obey Christ’s command to meet Him on the other side was now inevitable. They had already reached their mental, emotional, & physical limits, but now, with disobedience just around the corner, they were about to experience spiritual incompetence as well.

Most of us would rather hear about our need for forgiveness & mercy in a book or Bible study than to be shown our need through personal failure.

Failure was on the horizon for them, and even if they couldn’t see their need for help yet, Jesus could. He wasn’t satisfied to simply tell them about their need for His mercy, He decided to show them. Is it any accident that the wind came against them when it did? After all, Jesus had only recently demonstrated His ability to control the forces of nature (Mt.8/Mk.4). The process by which God made His Disciples aware of their need for mercy was complex & lengthy, but it got the job done because, just like He does for all of His disciples, He needed to create a situation where they’d see it for themselves. God always finds a way to remind His people of their need for His help. He will even supernaturally arrange your failure if He has to. Most of us would rather hear about our need for forgiveness & mercy in a book or Bible study than to be shown our need through personal failure. But hand’s-on experience is always preferable to God. It may be a painfully frightening ordeal, but it’s good for you.

The reason so many people want God to eliminate sin from their life with the quick snap of a finger instead of through the long, hard road of repentance is because they don’t want to need the Lord’s mercy. We sometimes see mercy as a favor from God that we’ll have to eventually return. Our logic tells us that if we could just convince God to make our sin go away overnight, we could wake up in the morning with no further need of Him, which is exactly what some of us want…to reach a level of spiritual competence by which we’re able to live independently of God. It’s the same evil desire some Christians have always had, even in their former days of sinful self-governance and unbridled lust. Their craving for independence is greater than their longing for God Himself. They don’t have a problem serving Him all the time (they’ll even exhaust themselves doing it), but needing Him at all makes them quite uncomfortable. It makes them feel indebted to God, and they don’t like that. They’d rather feel as if God is indebted to them. Self-satisfaction takes priority over God’s being satisfied. So they pursue a certain degree of piety & perfection, rather than spiritual contrition and a heart that’s broken over its own sin. You see, receiving God’s mercy has a natural humbling effect, which is why, in our pride, we can easily turn church into a place where we silently compete against one another to see who needs it least.

The pursuit of independence from God is as wicked & as dangerous as any other transgression, and He knows it. In order to protect us from the harmful effects of such an unhealthy craving, the Lord Himself “consigns everyone to disobedience, so that He may have mercy on everybody” (Romans 11:32). That statement should be as shocking as it is comforting. It’s shocking, because one would think it beneath God to make use of sin like that. The meaning of the term “consign” here, is that God “delivers you up to the power of sin so that you’re completely shut in by it without means of escape”. His “consigning” us to disobedience then, has an eerie ring to it, wouldn’t you say? And yet, the Scriptures reveal that consigning us to disobedience is a regular practice of His, with no concern for what it might do to His reputation by admitting it. He sees to it that everyone will sin whether they want to or not. Again, did Jesus even want His Disciples to get to the other side of that lake?

God isn’t bothered when we cry to Him for rescue… 

… He specializes in it.

The fact that God “delivers us up to the power of sin” is not only shocking, but also strangely comforting. Comforting because it says that my sin doesn’t surprise Him. Comforting because it reminds me that my coming to Him for mercy is all part of His plan; it’s ok that we need Him. He doesn’t mind it when we ask Him for forgiveness. He welcomes it. He isn’t bothered when we cry to Him for rescue. He specializes in it. We might have a problem with appearing needy to Him, but He doesn’t. Not at all.

Now this shouldn’t lead us to mistakenly believe that we can freely disobey God because He seems to be pushing us in that direction anyway. We all know what the Apostle Paul would say to that (Ro.6:1-2)! It simply is not true. After all, the Disciples never quit rowing, did they? They strained at it. It’s not our job to give up, it’s our job to obey, all the while knowing that even the best of our obedience will still fall short. Again, this is no excuse for sin, rather, this is a strong incentive to follow Christ with the joy of knowing that when we do sin, there’s mercy for us.

Any reasonable Christian knows how impossible it is to bypass their continual need for God’s mercy. No matter what the situation, mercy is the answer. We need it more than we know, but God knows how much we need it, and He will show you just how deep that need is. When He reveals to you just how badly you’ve failed, and just how desperately you need His mercy, don’t look away. Don’t pretend to not notice it. Perceive it, freely confess it, and accept the mercy that is yours in Christ. Knowing your need for mercy is a sign of hope; humbly asking for it is a sign of spiritual maturity; and gladly receiving it is true salvation.

So, did Jesus really want His Disciples to get to the other side of that lake? Or rather, does Jesus want you to obey His directives and live an obedient life? Yes, of course He does. But not without Him. You’ll never get to the other side on your own. It’s the one who fails to realize this who spends their time stuck in the middle of that proverbial sea “straining at rowing”…impressing themselves with how little of God’s help they need…going nowhere.

Is that you? Jesus wants to be the one who brings you across the lake we call “life”, and if you’re trying to get there without His help, He’d be glad to show you just how much you actually need it. So, is there room enough in your boat for Him, or do you prefer your independence?

A few weeks ago I was able to travel with our Duluth missions team to Kentucky where we did some extensive work on the foundation of a building. Over the years the foundation of this building had shifted several inches leading to severe compromise of the structure and safety of the building. Simply stated, buildings are not supposed to move and when they do there will inevitably be problems.

You know that the Christian life is one of continual growth, moving forward, continuing to change more and more into the image of Jesus. Christians lives should never be static, yet there is one way that we are to not move, one thing that we are to stand firm upon keeping us unchanging and unwavering. Everything in this world will be moved, everything will change, shift, and waver. There is only one thing that will last and that is the truth of God. We are to be built immovable upon the truth of Jesus Christ. What we are building upon is not to be just words, theories, or human philosophies, but upon Christ himself.

1 Corinthians 15:58 “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.” We are commanded to be immovable and that can seem to be a daunting task when we consider the world that we live in. It seems as though everything around us is pushing and pulling at our hearts and lives. Our worldly desires pull us away from God, the storms and difficulties try to push us down; and yet we are to stand unshaken and unwavering. We are to remain steadfast for our Lord. How can that be possible? The prior verse has the answer. 1 Corinthians 15:57, “But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

We are to build our lives upon the rock of Jesus Christ, you know that, but have you?

We can remain steadfast because of God, because of the victory He provides in Christ. God stabilizes our lives. He takes us from going up and down and all over the place to standing firm in Him. He says that we are no longer to be like a wave tossed about too and fro. We are to build our lives upon the rock of Jesus Christ, you know that, but have you? That is the question you have to answer, have you really built you entire life upon Him? Will the problems and pleasure of this life cause you to drift, to be thrown about, to lose the firm foundation that you thought you had? Or will you weather the storm?

It is easy to start well, to began upon that rock of Christ, but then carelessly drift away. Sometimes we think we are standing strong, but really the only reason we haven’t moved is because the right pressure has not yet been applied. What will it take to get you to move? The right job, the right spouse, the right house, the right adventure? If you really know Christ as your strength, none of that will matter. You will not be shaken. You will not be budged from God, His plans for you, the church He has placed you in no matter what happens.

Psalm 62:6 “He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken.”
Psalm 125:1 “Those who trust in the LORD Are as Mount Zion, which cannot be moved but abides forever.”
Proverbs 10:31 “The righteous will never be shaken”

Are these verses really true of you? Can you confidently say that you will not be moved because of your trust in Him and what He has done?

So how are we to do this, how can we really become steadfast, immovable, resolute, trusting our Lord? The answer is NOT to try really hard not to move, to flex our muscles, plant our feet, and dig in. This will surely eventually end in failure.

We are to know Him. If we do not know our savior, we do not know what we are to build upon. We are to know His word. His truths are the one thing we have to hold unto in this world that will not change. We obey Him and see Him come through for us time after time. We are to do it together, because it is a lot easier if we are not standing alone. Above all, and really the only answer that matters, we need to love God. If we love Him, above and beyond anything else, nothing will be able to remove us from Him.

Circumstances do not matter. When the earth and sky is falling away, when everyone around you is panicking, when the winds and waves our crashing all around you, when everything in your life seems to be falling apart our God remains sovereignly enthroned; and our God wins.

I’ve been around long enough now to see people moved, people that at one time seemed immovable. I thought they would remain steadfast to the end, but they didn’t. Their lives were built upon a rock of empty religious devotion and fleeting emotions. The foundation looked strong. The rock looked right, but in the end turned out to be hollow. No amount of trying to patch up that hollow rock would suffice. No, the only real fix is just like the fix to the falling building in Kentucky. The old foundation needs to be smashed to bits and removed, allowing no part of it to remain, and in turn replaced with the new unfailing rock of Jesus Christ.

Superman

It takes Clark Kent 3 seconds in a revolving door or a phone booth to go from average to awesome. It’s impressive to say the least. He’s really the first of his kind to figure out how to do it. One moment he’s a run-of-the-mill, blue-collar civilian, but before you know it, he becomes Superman; flying everywhere and saving everyone. It’s thrilling, and inspiring, and never disappointing. He’s handsome, and brave, and always courteous. The things he’s accomplished with that red cape on his back makes his life worth watching, as millions of people all over the world would attest.

 

First introduced in 1938, Superman has captured the attention of children everywhere ever since. And it seems that, perhaps, he’s left many of them with the impression that, as adults, sanctification would happen faster than it does. But the world needs to know something: Mr. Kent might be able to achieve perfection in less than 60 seconds, but you can’t. And neither can I. If there was a short-cut to absolute generosity and self-sacrificial service like he had, someone would’ve found it by now. But unfortunately, there is no fast-tracking your development. Even worse, there is no secret phone booth for the Christian. There’s no corner of the city where you can privately undergo a profound spiritual makeover and then emerge as an otherworldly superhero. The transformation of a Christian might be radical, but it certainly isn’t confidential. The process of growth that takes place in the believer happens slowly, publicly, and oftentimes, embarrassingly. When Clark Kent goes from average to awesome, no one sees it happen, but when disciples of Christ do it, the whole world watches.

When you volunteer for discipleship, you’re volunteering for humiliation.

The Original

In the days before revolving doors and phone booths, Jesus recruited run-of-the-mill, blue-collar civilians, and turned them in to disciples through a challengingly slow, highly visible process. Every scene of their character renovation was raw and real. They walked on water, but they also sank. Casting out demons one day, but then failed the next. They were commended by Jesus, but they were also rebuked by Jesus. The final cut includes some of their biggest failures for an audience larger than Superman could ever fathom. Discipleship, unlike Hollywood, offers no makeup or costumes, no editing, no scripts, and certainly no retakes. When you volunteer yourself for discipleship, you’re volunteering yourself for humiliation.

 

Could you imagine how arduous & disappointing feature films would be if all the raw footage were left in there? Consider the innumerable out-takes of a film like Superman, and how they would diminish his glorious persona if we all watched him forget his lines and trip over his own stupid cape. The Man of Steel suddenly becomes the man-of-real, and nobody’s even impressed by him anymore. It shouldn’t take too long before you realize that your life in Christ is going to be very unlike the Adventures of Superman. The ugly garments of your old self don’t come off as easily as they do for fictional characters. No one gets to hide them in a phone booth and simply walk away; not you, not I, not even Apostles got to do that. So if you’re the kind of person who’s prone to making unsanctioned edits to their own footage just to keep from being embarrassed, the kind who always needs to be seen as a superhero by the audience whose applause you love, quit it. You’re mocking the Director and you’re ruining the show. If the Movie-Maker would have you look like a fool, and if He wants to include just as many bad parts as He does good ones, then humble yourself and join the cast. If you’re not careful, you might be writing yourself out of the film altogether.

 

But why? Why does it take so long? Why can’t it happen faster? And why does it hurt so much? Why do I have to feel like an idiot all the time? And why doesn’t He let me do this in private where no one has to see how un-spiritual I actually am? Why can’t I just play pretend like Christopher Reeves?

 

Well, the reason He chooses weaklings like us, and the reason He chose fools like Andrew & Philip & Paul, is because He wants to save your glorification until later. Remember, you are not in the glorification stage, you are in the sanctification stage. Big difference. Glorification will come, but not now. Until it does (and it may be a while yet), there will be frustration, slow progress, humiliation, and pain. It might not be normal for guys like Superman, but it most certainly is for the disciples of Christ. It always has been. And it will be until this flick is finally over.

Today

Twenty centuries later, Jesus is still up to the same thing: Recruiting run-of-the-mill, blue-collar civilians, and then turning them in to disciples: “Not many wise, not many powerful, not many noble are called. Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important” (I Cor.1:26-29). It’s still a painfully slow procedure, pockmarked by failure & embarrassment, but it’s the process He’s ordained for us to go through in order to become a little more ‘super’ and a bit more ‘heroic’.