My grandsons love playing in the park. Their city yard is postage stamp small without room for two active boys to run around much, so they enjoy a place with swings, slides, jungle gyms and seesaws.
Seesaws may be fun at the playground, but they are not God’s idea of ideal service. Yes, we may falter once in awhile. Many passages speak of faith in flux, but as we mature in that faith, the flux should become smaller and smaller. David speaks of the opposite of a seesaw faith, even when he is running for his life in Psalm 57:7. “My heart is steadfast, O God,” or, in several other versions, “My heart is fixed.” In a time of fear when others would have wavered, David is able to keep his faith in God steady.
So the question is, how do we avoid the seesaws in life? First, let’s make it clear—you can’t avoid the park altogether. I hear people talking about life as if it is always supposed to be fun, always easy, and always good, and something is wrong when anything bad happens. Nonsense. We live on an earth that has been cursed because of man’s sin. When God curses something, he does a bang-up job of it. To think we would still be living in something resembling Eden is ridiculous.
We are all dying from the moment we are born. Some of us just manage to hang on longer than others. Some of us catch diseases because they are out there due to sin and Satan. Some of us are injured. Some of us have disabilities. Some of us are never able to lead a normal life. It has nothing to do with God being mean, or not loving us, or not paying attention to us one way or the other, and everything to do with being alive. Everyone receives bad news once in awhile—it isn’t out of the ordinary. Everyone experiences moments of fear and doubt. We all go through trials. But just because you are in the park, doesn’t mean you have to get on the seesaw.
We must have a steadfast faith no matter what happens to us. “The Lord is faithful; He will establish you…” 2 Thes 3:3. Our hearts can be “established by grace,” Heb 13:9. But those things are nebulous, nothing we can really lay our hands on in our daily struggles. Am I supposed to just think real hard about God and grace and somehow get stronger? Yes, it will help, but God knows we are tethered to this life through tangible things and He gives us plenty of that sort of help as well, help we sometimes do not want to recognize because of the responsibility it places upon us to act.
We must be willing to be guided to that steadfastness by faithful leaders, 2 Thes 3:3-5. We must be willing to obey God’s law, James 1:22-24, and live a life of righteousness, Psa 112:6, before steadfastness makes an appearance. We must become a part of God’s people and associate with them as much as possible, Heb 10:19-25. We must study the lives of those who have gone before and imitate their steadfastness, laying aside sin if we hope to endure as they did, Heb 12:1-2. Every one of those things will keep us off the seesaw.
To change one’s life and become part of God’s people, the church—for some reason those are the very things the world will laugh to scorn. It preaches a Jesus who “loves me as I am” without demanding any change, and divides His body from His being, labeling it a manmade placeholder for the true kingdom to come. “I can have a relationship with God without having a relationship with anyone else,” we say, and promptly climb aboard the seesaw, Satan laughing gleefully at us from the other end. Guess what? That’s who we are having a relationship with.
Get off the seesaw now before he has you sitting so high up on it, your legs dangling beneath you, that you are unable to reach the grounding your faith needs. You may still have moments of weakness and doubt, but those things will grow less and less if you make use of the help God has given you. You can have a steadfast faith, even if it finds you hiding in a cave from your enemies. “My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast…For your steadfast love is great to the heavens; your faithfulness to the clouds.”
Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. 1 Corinthians 15:58.
Dene Ward
(For hints, help, and instructions on using this blog, click on the FAQ/Tutorial page on the left sidebar)
Seesaws may be fun at the playground, but they are not God’s idea of ideal service. Yes, we may falter once in awhile. Many passages speak of faith in flux, but as we mature in that faith, the flux should become smaller and smaller. David speaks of the opposite of a seesaw faith, even when he is running for his life in Psalm 57:7. “My heart is steadfast, O God,” or, in several other versions, “My heart is fixed.” In a time of fear when others would have wavered, David is able to keep his faith in God steady.
So the question is, how do we avoid the seesaws in life? First, let’s make it clear—you can’t avoid the park altogether. I hear people talking about life as if it is always supposed to be fun, always easy, and always good, and something is wrong when anything bad happens. Nonsense. We live on an earth that has been cursed because of man’s sin. When God curses something, he does a bang-up job of it. To think we would still be living in something resembling Eden is ridiculous.
We are all dying from the moment we are born. Some of us just manage to hang on longer than others. Some of us catch diseases because they are out there due to sin and Satan. Some of us are injured. Some of us have disabilities. Some of us are never able to lead a normal life. It has nothing to do with God being mean, or not loving us, or not paying attention to us one way or the other, and everything to do with being alive. Everyone receives bad news once in awhile—it isn’t out of the ordinary. Everyone experiences moments of fear and doubt. We all go through trials. But just because you are in the park, doesn’t mean you have to get on the seesaw.
We must have a steadfast faith no matter what happens to us. “The Lord is faithful; He will establish you…” 2 Thes 3:3. Our hearts can be “established by grace,” Heb 13:9. But those things are nebulous, nothing we can really lay our hands on in our daily struggles. Am I supposed to just think real hard about God and grace and somehow get stronger? Yes, it will help, but God knows we are tethered to this life through tangible things and He gives us plenty of that sort of help as well, help we sometimes do not want to recognize because of the responsibility it places upon us to act.
We must be willing to be guided to that steadfastness by faithful leaders, 2 Thes 3:3-5. We must be willing to obey God’s law, James 1:22-24, and live a life of righteousness, Psa 112:6, before steadfastness makes an appearance. We must become a part of God’s people and associate with them as much as possible, Heb 10:19-25. We must study the lives of those who have gone before and imitate their steadfastness, laying aside sin if we hope to endure as they did, Heb 12:1-2. Every one of those things will keep us off the seesaw.
To change one’s life and become part of God’s people, the church—for some reason those are the very things the world will laugh to scorn. It preaches a Jesus who “loves me as I am” without demanding any change, and divides His body from His being, labeling it a manmade placeholder for the true kingdom to come. “I can have a relationship with God without having a relationship with anyone else,” we say, and promptly climb aboard the seesaw, Satan laughing gleefully at us from the other end. Guess what? That’s who we are having a relationship with.
Get off the seesaw now before he has you sitting so high up on it, your legs dangling beneath you, that you are unable to reach the grounding your faith needs. You may still have moments of weakness and doubt, but those things will grow less and less if you make use of the help God has given you. You can have a steadfast faith, even if it finds you hiding in a cave from your enemies. “My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast…For your steadfast love is great to the heavens; your faithfulness to the clouds.”
Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. 1 Corinthians 15:58.
Dene Ward
(For hints, help, and instructions on using this blog, click on the FAQ/Tutorial page on the left sidebar)
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