RUNNING THE RACE SET BEFORE US

   Often times the person that we desire to be is far different than who we actually are (at least based on how we live our lives).   I recently had a woman, who had read one of my facebook posts, message me about how her marriage was crumbling. Her husband who had always been active in their church had abandoned her and her children and was living with another woman. He was also frequenting strip clubs and had become an alcoholic. She wrote me and said that she (along with her friends and family) were left bewildered as this man, they all “thought they knew” was living a life completely contrary to the beliefs that he had always espoused. Although not always as overt as this ladies story--many of us tend to compartmentalize our lives when it pertains to our relationship with God. We all have areas that we either keep away from God or refuse to see or confront in our own lives. 

   While at an Army Reserve Training Course over the last two weeks, I feel  God has given me some insight into this very topic. At this school that I attended, we had just completed 12 hours of training exercises and had gotten very little sleep the night prior. The next day after running around on another mock training mission--we got ready to go on a 7 mile tactical road march. Now in the Army you are generally carrying between 50 and 75 lbs of equipment in your rucksack (back pack) in addition to your uniform and rifle. The temperature that afternoon also added to the discomfort as it was an almost unbearably humid 92 degrees (97 degrees with the heat index). Within the first mile and a half of the march we had a few soldiers already falling behind the formation. As the march wore on, we came to a large hill;  my legs were burning, my lower back was aching and I was sweating so much that my uniform was completely saturated like I had just gotten out of a swimming pool. At this point my mind started giving me reasons to quit. First off, I was the oldest guy in this class at almost 48 years old.  I was already in the Army before most of these soldiers were even born! I was at least 20 years older than half of the students that I was in class with and my mind kept giving me reasons to quit (or at least to fall behind). Instead of allowing myself to justify quitting however, I focused on staying within the formation regardless of what the terrain looked like. I knew that the battle was in my mind and I refused to quit on myself. You see our bodies are capable of accomplishing much more than our minds can conceive. 

    I thought as I finished the road march that day--how many of us do the same thing in our spiritual walk?  We justify habits and behaviors in our lives that don’t line up with what we say we believe and we let our mind tell our spirit that it's human nature.  We refuse to look at these areas that are not in synch with who God made us to be.  We get comfortable in our own sin and disobedience by using various excuses.  Those excuses include,  "Everybody is doing it", or "My sin was someone elses fault."  Instead of making the painful choice to "Take up our cross and follow Christ daily"--we hide those areas that don't line up with what we say we believe, or worse yet, we twist scripture in an attempt to vindicate our disobedience.  It's not that Christianity is about a bunch of rules and restrictions, our Heavenly Father wants the best for us. Just like I establish boundaries for my children so that they might grow up to have successful, joyful lives--God wants the same for us.  Often we only give God a small percentage of our heart when what he desires is all of it.  How would you feel in a marriage relationship if your spouse only gave you a percentage of their heart? Or a percentage of their devotion? Jesus said the greatest commandment was to love the Lord with "ALL your heart, soul, strength, and mind". I have purposed in my life to serve Jesus “whole heartedly“. No area in my heart is off limits to God because you see, our “spirit” is also able to accomplish much more than our minds can conceive. With all my heart I want to put aside all excuses and pursue God’s heart with everything in me.  I want people to look at me and see that in every way my actions line up with who I state that I am. I want the man I desire to be and who I actually am to be in synch as I walk out who God created me to be

　

Hebrews 12:1-2 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

The movie "42" and "turning the other cheek."

I recently saw the movie “42” about baseball legend Jackie Robinson.  This movie especially impacted me as my grandfather was major league pitcher Robert “Lefty” Bob Logan who played for the Cincinnati Reds as well as the Chicago Cubs.  Although Jackie Robinson’s career began after my grandfather had already retired—Jackie Robinson was always one of Grandpa Logan’s favorite players.  Both my Grandfather Bob and Grandmother Evelyn Logan were two of the biggest influences on my faith in Christ.  One thing that impacted me in that movie was the concept of turning the other cheek.  In the movie, Jackie was told by the Dodgers General Manager Branch Rickey that Branch was looking for a man “with guts enough not to fight back”.  The film accurately depicted Branch Rickey’s commitment to following Christ.  The General Manager of the Dodgers sincerely felt like it was God’s will that he help integrate baseball and subsequently impact the moral fiber of the nation.  One thing not addressed in the movie, however, was Jackie Robinson’s similar deep and abiding faith in Jesus Christ.  Throughout the movie Robinson resisted the temptation to defend himself or fight back.  Because of how Jackie Robinson continued to react in a “Christ like” way—his courage and discipline completely changed major league baseball (and impacted the society’s view on racism as well).    
    One of the hardest things to learn in following Jesus, are the concepts of  “dying to self” and “loving your enemies”.  One thing that I feel God has been teaching me lately is the importance of “dying to self”.  The dead have no rights and find no need to defend themselves.  When I started coming to the realization of what it really meant to die to self, it became easier (although still not easy) to be kind to those who were being unkind to me.  Jesus is glorified when we begin to live in that reality though because it is so contrary to the way that we are wired.  It is a natural human reaction when someone personally attacks us (whether emotionally or physically) to fight back.  Now I am not in ANY way advocating anyone to stay in a physically abusive relationship.  What I am saying however is that when we react with kindness to those who are being vicious to us —that is when people will see Christ being active in our lives.  For those of us who have had to process through the pain and rejection of divorce this can be a hard road to travel.  I recently spoke to a church friend about her mistreatment at the hands of her ex-husband.  She is a Christian and was struggling with how to react towards her ex.  Her ex husband had been very cruel, manipulative and accusing when dealing with her.  He had slandered her to both family friends as well as to their children.  It was her natural tendency to go on the attack whenever she had to interact with him.  She would feel the desire to lash out, retaliate, threaten, and defend herself against his verbal attacks and accusations.  My counsel to her was simply to “be kind” in any and all interactions with him.  If he got verbally abusive on the phone, I told her she should end the call.  But I encouraged her that under no circumstances should she allow herself to get baited into responding on his level.  Did her ex husband deserve her kindness?  Absolutely not!  This guy was being a complete jerk.  But in showing kindness instead of venom she was taking the moral high ground and honoring God.  Now this does not mean we have no boundaries when dealing with abusive people.  What it does mean is we have decided to react in ways that glorify God and show kindness to those who are undeserving (realizing that we all are undeserving of God’s kindness and mercy). When we decide to follow Christ, we give up our rights to retaliate in order to defend our own dignity.  When we defend our honor by retaliating against those who hurl insults our way—we minimize the reality of Christ in our lives.  Black athletes during the civil rights era understood this concept.  People like Jackie Robinson knew that if they retaliated it would simply give justification to their attackers that they were correct in their false assumptions.  Instead, like Jesus, Jackie showed through his gentle dignity that his confidence and esteem came from the Lord.  He had no need to defend himself as God was his defender.  Through his actions and the actions of other great men and women of that era, racial barriers began to erode and both Jackie Robinson and Branch Rickie began to see the beginnings of racial reconciliation and healing in the nation.  I pray that God will continue to allow me to learn how to “turn the other cheek” in the midst of conflict so that I can become more like the one I serve.

Matthew 5:38-48, “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.  And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.  And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.  You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’  But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Live long and prosper!

Warning, Nerd Alert!!!  I loved watching Star Trek as a kid.  Every episode started with the Enterprise crew encountering a very traumatic event.  The crew was always facing intense drama--whether it was the Star Ship Enterprise being attacked by an alien race intent on the destruction of mankind, a plague that caused everyone on board to age rapidly or Captain Kirk being transported to an alien planet where he was forced into a “battle to the death” with a crocodilian creature called “Gorn.” The crew of the Enterprise always had some pretty major hardships to overcome and every week I watched that show, captivated to find out how they would deal with the latest hardship and how things would resolve themselves.  And things always did resolve before the end of that episode. 

    I used to always wish life worked out that way.  No fear or panic just the anticipation that everything is under control and things will eventually work themselves out.  In my personal life however, I would panic when things would get really hard.  I would often times feel like life was spiraling out of control and God was nowhere to be found.  My fear of abandonment would always project itself onto my perception of both God and my circumstances and I would feel anxiety and panic.  That fear would push me into trying to “pray harder” somehow feeling like I had to work to get God’s attention.  When I would eventually calm down and start to seek God in faith, He would give me peace.  Yet inevitably when that latest crisis would resolve itself—I would put God back on the shelf and continue with business as usual.  That was, until a little more than a year ago when everything was collapsing in my life with no resolution in sight.  All the things I depended on and looked to for strength and identity seemed to completely disappear.  And I was left standing with no one and nothing --except for my loving heavenly Father.  Like a man caught in the darkest of nights looking intently for a light in the distance-- I searched for God amidst the rubble all around me.  Something different happened this time around however as I finally began to understand that God had always been with me.  He never left me (even when I left him).  Like the writer of a Star Trek script, he was always there in advance figuring out how to resolve my life traumas in my best interest.  When I finally started understanding that fact it has revolutionized the way I view life.  Now when I’m facing hardships in my life I have the assurance that “the one that loves me the most” is working out all things for my good in Christ Jesus.  Now I have the assurance that just like a Star Trek episode, the “screen writer of my life” has already planned a victorious ending to my latest trials. 
    If you are currently facing hardship or loss, I encourage you to take your pain and hurt to your heavenly Father.  He loves you and wants to use the hardships you are facing to draw you into a closer relationship with him.  He is also the one that you can call on for help when no one else can help you.  Whatever your situation is, don’t lose hope because your creator longs to intervene in your life and show you his affection.  God’s passion for us was at the core of the message that Jesus taught.  God loves you and has created you with a plan and purpose.  God sent his son, Jesus so that we can live in a right relationship with the creator of the universe.  Not as servants, but as dearly beloved children.  So that we can truly “live long and prosper”. ;)      

1 Peter 5:8-10 “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.  To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.”

Romans 8:28, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”