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August 31, 2008 Left Behind I have a leftover from the County Fair at my house. He is a little wether goat that did not make weight. We weighed him a day or two ago, and he came in at a whopping 47 pounds. He is cute as a bug, but is skinny, and looks a little weak. Kind of fragile. Makes me think of the song “Only for the Weak”, by Avalon. It has been one of my favorites, and after all, in our weakness, we are made strong. That is true, but over and over in the Scriptures, we see the people of God being admonished to be strong. (See Deuteronomy 31:6, I Chronicles 19:13,Isaiah 35:4, Psalms 31:24, Joshua 1:6,7,9; I Corinthians 16:13, Ephesians 6:10, II Timothy 2:1) At the Fair, the contrast between strong, muscley goats and the skinny, weak ones was apparent. Size really wasn’t the major deal; there were small muscley goats, too. I think that in the contrast between being weak and strong as Christians is that, initially, we must recognize our weaknesses in terms of our sin problem and our inability to do anything without Christ in our lives. (Without Me, you can do nothing. John 15:5) Once we acknowledge our weakness without God, and accept His workings and ways in our lives, it becomes God’s power within us that transforms us into strong people of God who “can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.” Philippians 4:13. So we go from spiritually puny, weak ineffective creatures, to spiritually fit, strong, powerhouses in the Lord, as we come to Christ in relationship with Him. We are not to be weak Christians in this world. This is far too dangerous, for us… and the lost. It is dangerous for us, because we get beaten up by the adversary all the time. It is dangerous for the lost, because they need someone strong to extend an arm to pull them out of the pit. No one wants to be pulled to the safety of the all-powerful arms of the Lord by a weakling. So how do we become strong in the Lord for others and ourselves? We can take a lesson from our Fair goat. When my daughter, Esther, was raising her goats, she had to make sure they had 4 things- food, water, rest, and exercise. If we want to be strong Christians, we also must be sure we get those four things- food, water, rest and exercise. Our food is the Word of God, and His very presence in our lives. We must take in God’s Word daily, morning and evening, just like physical food. We do not often think of going a day or days without food to eat, and we should not go through the day without the food of the Word of God for our soul and spirit. It would make us weak, and we need to be strong. The water of the Holy Spirit, active and moving in our lives is essential for our strength in the Lord. The Holy Spirit takes the food of the Word of God that we take in, and reveals greater understanding of it to us. He makes the Word come alive to us to nourish us spiritually. He teaches us the things of God. In order to stay strong spiritually, we also need to rest. That is why the Lord bids us come away with Him, to quiet places in our hearts and lives. We need times of quiet reflection, with just the Lord and us, in a quiet, undisturbed place, where we can hear Him and commune with our Creator and Lover. We do not generally think of going days or weeks without rest or sleep (except if you are a college student, perhaps) and if we want to be strong Christians, we need times of rest. Another thing we need to be attentive to is exercise. I know to some that is a four-letter word, but in order to build our muscles as followers of Christ, and to be strong for the Lord, we need to exercise. We take the food of the Word of God, combined with the revelation that the Holy Spirit gives us about the Word, along with the quiet times apart with the Lord, and we end up with faith and trust and confidence in the Lord that can be stretched and built up by the situations we go through. We step out in faith and obedience to what the Lord tells us, and the result is exercise for our spiritual muscles. I remember walking Esther’s goats with her, around the course she set up, jumping over little obstacles, running and walking alternately. We went up little hills, and down the other sides. The Lord takes us on similar courses, up hills, down hills, over obstacles, all the while exercising specific muscle groups, helping us to become strong disciples of His. And just as Esther did not let her goats travel the exercise course alone, God does not ask us to travel our exercise course alone. He travels the course with us, in us and beside us. He urges us to run up the hills, and allows us to walk on the other side. He knows our optimal exercise amount and type, and will not push a cooperative spirit past the limit. We do have a choice, however, in all of these areas that make us strong. We choose to take in God’s Word. We choose to allow the Holy Spirit freedom in our lives. We choose to “get away” with our Lord in quiet places. And we choose our exercise commitment. Some of us choose to exercise just a little, and end up as fat Christians. We will eat, drink and rest, but really don’t care for the exercise of faith and trust. We don’t put our food to use. We would rather stay fat and happy in the pen and the presence of the Lord. It takes courage and commitment to go out in the presence of the Lord and put our food to use and convert it to spiritual muscle that is able to work on behalf of the Lord for others. We must make the commitment to build our muscle to be strong and courageous in and for the Lord. Will we be strong and powerful in the Lord, will we be fat, or will we be scrawny and left behind in the Fair of life? |