Slides are a lot of fun... just ask my 3 year old son.
A couple of weeks ago we went to a nearby park to expend some of our pent up energy because we had been house bound for days. When we got there, my son ran right over to the slides and started having fun- loads of fun! I watched him for a while simply living in the moment when something about his behavior struck me as mundanely profound.
He had moved on.
I know- that's not profound. You're right because it's not. It wasn't his moving on that resonated with me it was what he moved on to... another slide.
The first slide was brilliantly fun for the first several trips. Let me paint the picture. He climbed up the stairs as if he were scaling Mount Everest and cheered when he reached the summit of his stair conquest. He then wandered around the top a bit soaking in the three-and-a-half feet off the ground, eagle-eye view. Slowly, he meandered over to the top of the slide and began his discourse on what the slide was- a race car, a train, a rocket ship. He then positioned himself at the top, waited for the perfect moment, and then slid down.
WWEEEEE... 2.13 seconds of fun over.
He sat at the bottom contemplating his next move when he suddenly jumped up and began again- up the stairs, wait at top, diatribe on his mode of transportation, down the slide. He kept doing this for 15 minutes- wash, rinse, repeat.
While I was watching him and having this internal moment of the human condition in action, I noticed that he was running to a new slide.
A new conquest. A new summit experience. A new monologue. A new rush down the slide.
A new rush...
It hit me. He was living for the rush. It wasn't necessarily the newness of the different slide that captivated his attention and took his breath away, it was the exhilaration. He was living for the rush.
I thought to myself, "What about this new slide was more enticing? Why didn't he keep playing on the same slide if he just liked the rush of excitement?"
It faded. The thrill that once enraptured his heart and fueled his adrenaline had lost its sparkle. It faded.
He sought out the taller slide. He yearned for the longer slide. One was faster and the other lasted longer... but they all ended.
I think that most of us never move beyond this cycle in our lives. It starts at age three and continues until twenty-three or fifty-three or eighty-three. Some of us learn how to adjust our thrill to make it more socially acceptable; some of us- not so much.
What does it for you? Cars? Money? Sex? Drugs? Alcohol? Spirituality? Knowledge? Career?
Everyone's got their something.
We all have vices. I've got a bunch- lust, video games, boudoir, lingerie, caffeine, consumerism, tech gadgets, food, etc. I could keep going but these tend to suck up most of my battles on a daily basis. I could never be satisfied with one look at the Victoria's Secret. I was never satiated with just one cigarette (when I used to smoke. I killed that vice just over 12 years ago). I've never bought just one geeked-out techie gadget and been completely satisfied.
I kept climbing the stairs living for that thrill, that rush down the slide. How about you?
Here's the kicker... I've been a Christian the entire time. What? Yeah. Just because I follow Jesus doesn't make me less human. I wrestle with the same struggles and encounter the same difficulties. Sometimes I experience tremendous victory over the weaknesses in my life but then there are those days...
What I have found to be true over and over again is that when I admit that I have no power over the temptation and allow God into the midst of my struggle, victory happens. Let me put that another way. When I stop trying to control the outcome and I surrender the struggle to Christ, God through His Spirit enters into my broken, depraved humanity and He gives me victory over the vice. It sounds too simple but it happens in my life time and time again.
There is no magic formula. You can't say 12 prayers and chant to some saint 5 times for this type of victory to happen. It exists as a result of fully trusting in God through Jesus to do what He promises, conquer sin and give us the victory. It's not formulaic because trust is relational not methodical and God is a person-- Jesus.
"No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it." 1 Corinthians 10:13, NIV
I gotta be honest, I used to read this verse and I severely underestimated the weight of the "what is common to man" part. I also never fully got the "beyond what you can bear" part either. Then I realized that there was more involved than just me. The Enemy was also at work scheming and plotting my demise.
Listen to how John Eldredge put it:
"In an effort to be helpful, Stassi [his wife] suggested an alternate route: 'If you take a right here and go up to First Street, we can cut over and take about five minutes off the drive.' I sat at the wheel silent and steaming. On the outside, I looked cool, inside, here is what was happening: Geez, doesn't she think I know how to get there? I hate it when she does that. Then another voice says, She always does that. And I say (internally-- the whole dialogue took place internally, in the blink of an eye), Yeah, she does... she's always saying stuff like that. I hate that about her. A feeling of accusation and anger and self-righteousness sweeps over me. Then the voice says, You know, John, there are a lot of women out there who would be deeply grateful to have you as their man, and I think, Yeah- there are a lot of women out there..." (Wild at Heart, Pg 151, 152)
The Enemy was lying to me while I was enduring the struggle. When I was finally able to focus on Jesus' voice, I heard His encouraging words and began to experience the victory that He promises. Friends, hearing from God in the middle of conflict, tension and temptation is a learned behavior. It is WAY easier for me to hear the voices telling me to give in, engage the thrill, and go down the slide.
It is hard to hear a whisper amongst the yelling, isn't it?
The good news is that the cycle can be broken. We must train our ears to hear God's voice in the middle of the trials and struggles. Then we must choose to act by turning away from the vice that could so easily enslave us and follow God's voice. I am convinced that thrills are not what we so desperately crave in life. We want to be unleashed from the chains of habitual sin and released from guilt. We want Freedom.
Listen to how the Bible compares sin to slavery; Jesus to freedom:
"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." Galatians 5:1, NIV
"(Jesus said,) The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." John 10:10, NIV
"You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love." Galatians 5:13, NIV
"In [Jesus] and through faith in [Jesus] we may approach God with freedom and confidence." Ephesians 3:12, NIV
"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." Ephesians 6:12, NIV
"Every man dies, not every man really lives," William Wallace in Braveheart.
Choose to fight well against the Enemy that wishes to enslave. Choose to listen to the Whisper that brings liberty. Choose to live.
Satisfy by Tenth Avenue North
A couple of weeks ago we went to a nearby park to expend some of our pent up energy because we had been house bound for days. When we got there, my son ran right over to the slides and started having fun- loads of fun! I watched him for a while simply living in the moment when something about his behavior struck me as mundanely profound.
He had moved on.
I know- that's not profound. You're right because it's not. It wasn't his moving on that resonated with me it was what he moved on to... another slide.
The first slide was brilliantly fun for the first several trips. Let me paint the picture. He climbed up the stairs as if he were scaling Mount Everest and cheered when he reached the summit of his stair conquest. He then wandered around the top a bit soaking in the three-and-a-half feet off the ground, eagle-eye view. Slowly, he meandered over to the top of the slide and began his discourse on what the slide was- a race car, a train, a rocket ship. He then positioned himself at the top, waited for the perfect moment, and then slid down.
WWEEEEE... 2.13 seconds of fun over.
He sat at the bottom contemplating his next move when he suddenly jumped up and began again- up the stairs, wait at top, diatribe on his mode of transportation, down the slide. He kept doing this for 15 minutes- wash, rinse, repeat.
While I was watching him and having this internal moment of the human condition in action, I noticed that he was running to a new slide.
A new conquest. A new summit experience. A new monologue. A new rush down the slide.
A new rush...
It hit me. He was living for the rush. It wasn't necessarily the newness of the different slide that captivated his attention and took his breath away, it was the exhilaration. He was living for the rush.
I thought to myself, "What about this new slide was more enticing? Why didn't he keep playing on the same slide if he just liked the rush of excitement?"
It faded. The thrill that once enraptured his heart and fueled his adrenaline had lost its sparkle. It faded.
He sought out the taller slide. He yearned for the longer slide. One was faster and the other lasted longer... but they all ended.
I think that most of us never move beyond this cycle in our lives. It starts at age three and continues until twenty-three or fifty-three or eighty-three. Some of us learn how to adjust our thrill to make it more socially acceptable; some of us- not so much.
What does it for you? Cars? Money? Sex? Drugs? Alcohol? Spirituality? Knowledge? Career?
Everyone's got their something.
We all have vices. I've got a bunch- lust, video games, boudoir, lingerie, caffeine, consumerism, tech gadgets, food, etc. I could keep going but these tend to suck up most of my battles on a daily basis. I could never be satisfied with one look at the Victoria's Secret. I was never satiated with just one cigarette (when I used to smoke. I killed that vice just over 12 years ago). I've never bought just one geeked-out techie gadget and been completely satisfied.
I kept climbing the stairs living for that thrill, that rush down the slide. How about you?
Here's the kicker... I've been a Christian the entire time. What? Yeah. Just because I follow Jesus doesn't make me less human. I wrestle with the same struggles and encounter the same difficulties. Sometimes I experience tremendous victory over the weaknesses in my life but then there are those days...
What I have found to be true over and over again is that when I admit that I have no power over the temptation and allow God into the midst of my struggle, victory happens. Let me put that another way. When I stop trying to control the outcome and I surrender the struggle to Christ, God through His Spirit enters into my broken, depraved humanity and He gives me victory over the vice. It sounds too simple but it happens in my life time and time again.
There is no magic formula. You can't say 12 prayers and chant to some saint 5 times for this type of victory to happen. It exists as a result of fully trusting in God through Jesus to do what He promises, conquer sin and give us the victory. It's not formulaic because trust is relational not methodical and God is a person-- Jesus.
"No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it." 1 Corinthians 10:13, NIV
I gotta be honest, I used to read this verse and I severely underestimated the weight of the "what is common to man" part. I also never fully got the "beyond what you can bear" part either. Then I realized that there was more involved than just me. The Enemy was also at work scheming and plotting my demise.
Listen to how John Eldredge put it:
"In an effort to be helpful, Stassi [his wife] suggested an alternate route: 'If you take a right here and go up to First Street, we can cut over and take about five minutes off the drive.' I sat at the wheel silent and steaming. On the outside, I looked cool, inside, here is what was happening: Geez, doesn't she think I know how to get there? I hate it when she does that. Then another voice says, She always does that. And I say (internally-- the whole dialogue took place internally, in the blink of an eye), Yeah, she does... she's always saying stuff like that. I hate that about her. A feeling of accusation and anger and self-righteousness sweeps over me. Then the voice says, You know, John, there are a lot of women out there who would be deeply grateful to have you as their man, and I think, Yeah- there are a lot of women out there..." (Wild at Heart, Pg 151, 152)
The Enemy was lying to me while I was enduring the struggle. When I was finally able to focus on Jesus' voice, I heard His encouraging words and began to experience the victory that He promises. Friends, hearing from God in the middle of conflict, tension and temptation is a learned behavior. It is WAY easier for me to hear the voices telling me to give in, engage the thrill, and go down the slide.
It is hard to hear a whisper amongst the yelling, isn't it?
The good news is that the cycle can be broken. We must train our ears to hear God's voice in the middle of the trials and struggles. Then we must choose to act by turning away from the vice that could so easily enslave us and follow God's voice. I am convinced that thrills are not what we so desperately crave in life. We want to be unleashed from the chains of habitual sin and released from guilt. We want Freedom.
Listen to how the Bible compares sin to slavery; Jesus to freedom:
"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." Galatians 5:1, NIV
"(Jesus said,) The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." John 10:10, NIV
"You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love." Galatians 5:13, NIV
"In [Jesus] and through faith in [Jesus] we may approach God with freedom and confidence." Ephesians 3:12, NIV
"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." Ephesians 6:12, NIV
"Every man dies, not every man really lives," William Wallace in Braveheart.
Choose to fight well against the Enemy that wishes to enslave. Choose to listen to the Whisper that brings liberty. Choose to live.
Satisfy by Tenth Avenue North
