1 Corinthians 15:36

John Brzenk (icon of the documentary Pulling John) became the world arm wrestling champion in 1983 and didn't lose an arm wrestling match for the next twenty-five years. Pulling John follows his decision about whether or not to retire as he approaches the age forty. The main story line of the film, though, is the collision course of Alexey Voyevoda (a demure Russian giant) and Travis Bagent (a bombastic American braggart), two young challengers to Brzenk's throne. Both men revere Brzenk and understand that they must each go through the other to get to Brzenk's level.

At the world championships in 2003, Voyevoda and Bagent met in the super heavyweight final. In a huge upset, Bagent soundly defeated the heavily favored Voyevoda. If you're familiar with stories like this, you know what happened next. Bagent got even cockier, while Voyevoda went back to Russia to work out. It's during these Russian post-loss scenes that Voyevoda discusses losing, what it means to him, and how acceptance of the loss can bring greater strength. At a critical point, one of his coaches says, "If you're strong, losing can make you stronger."

It is only from deaths that new lives are born. Voyevoda begins to know himself as someone who can lose, and, through that knowledge, gain strength. When he meets Bagent again, with the winner to face Brzenk, it's not close.

Martin Luther said that the cross was the end of us. Losing to Bagent was the end of the invincible Alexy Voyevoda. A new life was created. It was this new creation that dominated Bagent and moved on to face Brzenk.

It is when we are shown our need, which happens exclusively against our will, that we reach out for a Savior. Let us recognize that need today.

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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

 

Isaiah 49:1-2

Imagine that you are an arrow in God's quiver. If you were to try to do God's work for Him, it wouldn't go well. An arrow can't do any good if it tries to wiggle away from the archer and do the work on its own. Even if an arrow could jump out of the quiver, somehow hop up to a target and hit it, it would just bounce harmlessly off.

Now imagine an arrow in the hands of a skillful archer. The arrow needs to do nothing but remain in just the form that the archer made it. It is the archer who sharpens the arrow and the archer who hides it away in the quiver. It is the archer who takes the arrow out of the quiver and the archer who puts it on the string.  It is the archer who uses his strength to pull the arrow back, and the archer who aims. Finally, it is the archer who decides when to release the arrow. Only then will the arrow hit the target and stick. The arrow needs the strength of the archer to accomplish its purpose. If I were to ask you who did the work, the archer or the arrow, what would you say? If I tried to tell you that it was the arrow that did the work, the archer or the arrow, what would you say? If I tried to tell you that it was the arrow that did the work, you'd call me crazy. The archer is in control at every point, from sharpening the arrow to sticking it into the target.

How isit that we are to be servants of God? How can the arrow best be the servant of the archer? The way for us to be the best servant of God is to realize that He doesn't need us to do His work at all. He chooses to use us. A true servant is used by the master, the same way an arrow is used by the archer, to accomplish his purposes. Thankfully for the arrow, it is the archer who does all the work. And Thankfully for us, it is God who is in control.

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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

 

Matthew 11:29-30

In a 2010 interview with Stephen Colbert, reggae legend Jimmy Cliff was asked if he was currently a member of a religion. He answered, "No, I've graduated from them."  Colbert asked, incredulously, "You've graduated from religion?" and Cliff said, "Yes." Colbert then said that God is sitting up in heaven when we graduate from this life with a scorecard, and asked Cliff which scorecard (Christian, Muslim, Jew, Etc.) he wanted to be graded on. Cliff said he would like to be graded on the scorecard of "truth and facts." Colbert's inspired response?

Jimmy Cliff has decided to "graduate" from religion and wants to be assessed on truth and facts. Well, what are the facts? What is the truth? When the requirements are things like all of God's holy commandments, beginning just with the great Ten Commandments, the real truth would reveal that we're not doing so well. We can't graduate if we can't pass the class.

To be judged on the scorecard of truth and facts is a hard yoke and a heavy burden. Truth and facts lead to a heavy burden because it involves a righteousness required. Jesus, though, said that His yoke is easy and His burden is light. He was talking about a righteousness given, not earned. He was talking about faith and grace. Truth and facts mean we're judges on our own merits, or lack thereof. Faith and grace mean that we're judges on Jesus' merits, and judges righteous.

May we always rely on a righteousness that is given and never fear a righteousness that is required. And may we never, ever "graduate" from a yoke that is easy and a burden that is light.

Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,


 

Ecclesiastes 2:9-11

On April 12, 2012, Philip Humber pitched a perfect game. That is, he retired twenty-seven batters in a row, three up and three down, every inning for nine innings. No walk, no hits. Only eighteen other men in the history of Major League Baseball have accomplished the feat. In November of that same year, his team cut him, making him available to any team in the league. What happened?

In an interview with Sports Illustrated, Humber tried to explain it. The article is subtitled: For one magical April afternoon, Philip Humber was flawless. But that random smile from the pitching gods came with a heavy burden: the pressure to live up to a standard no one can meet."

The ladder of perfection has no top rung. There is no platform upon which we can finally rest. Whether our goal is to be a good father, a good Christian, or a good pitcher, each exemplary act carried with it the expectation of another. And another. "Being like Christ" is not like throwing a perfect game. It is like throwing perfect games every day of your life, while never being proud of the fact that you're throwing perfect games.

The quest for glory, the chasing of perfection, killed Humber's season. He never regained the form that mowed down all those hitters, and his team eventually gave up on him. In order to move on, Humber had to give up, admitting that "he's done chasing perfection. He's done trying to be the pitcher with the magical fastball and the unhittable slider. He knows he's a 30-year-old pitcher with a fading heater and a curveball that doesn't bite like it once did, and he accepts that."

Humber came to grips with his limitations, the truth about himself. He knows that, in order to be a good pitcher, he has to let perfection go. Let's remind ourselves daily, hourly, and by the minute that we can let perfection go, because it is a mantle that Christ has taken up for us.

-- Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

 

Proverbs 30:8 - Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread.

What people want to hear from a religion and what they need to hear are two very different things. I want to hear that I am fundamentally good, fundamentally in control, and fundamentally on the right track. I also want to hear that the problems I experience in my life are the result of outside forces and can be overcome following a short number of simple steps. In essence, I want to hear that it's all good, and that if I start feeling life becoming less good, I can easily right the ship.

I don't think it's any coincidence that many large churches in America proclaim this kind of message. Tell people what they want to hear, then the people and the money roll in.

The problem with the "what I want" refrain is that it can't actually help me. When my life starts sliding off the rails, it's all well and good to go to the handy self-help manual, but it becomes decidedly less "well and good" if the manual let's me down. What happens when I follow ten steps and still find myself financially insecure? Or when I follow the eight steps and they only serve to further alienate my family?

As it turns out, I need something different than what I want. I need the truth.

What people need to hear from religion is an accurate diagnosis of their condition. Wanted Religion can't offer a profound solution because it refuses to diagnose a profound disease. Needed Religion recognizes our plight and can offer a weighty cure: a Savior who substitutes Himself for us.

It will probably always be true that Wanted Religion will rake in the money; it's offering a much more desirable front end. Needed Religion, however, will be there when the bankrupt devotees of Wanted Religion need somewhere to turn and have no money left to buy their way in. 

Today, revel in a God who gives us what we need: a Savior.

Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

 

Numbers 21:4-9

The Israelites are in the middle of their years wandering in the desert, looking for the Promised Land, and they're getting impatient. They complain about the lack of good food and water, and they wish they'd never left Egypt in the first place. God, hearing their complaints, sends poisonous serpents among them, and many of the Israelites get bitten and die.

Ah, the joys of the Old Testament. Am I right? Complaining about how God's treating you? Here are some poisonous snakes! So the people come back to Moses and they say:

The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the 

people. The Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived. (Numbers 21:7-9)

There are a lot of foreshadowing elements in this story. Jesus references it in John 3 when He says that He, too, must be lifted up. In the same way that the elevation of the snake on the pole is the avenue for the Israleite's salvation, Jesus' hanging on a cross is the way in which eternal salvation comes to the world.

A particularly fascinating thing about this story is that God chooses the serpent to be the image lifted up on the pole - the very thing that is killing the people. Again, He is foreshadowing the final act of His plan of salvation. Jesus, who knew no sin, became sin on the cross so that we might become the righteousness of God. The very thing that is killing us - sin - is laid on Jesus and lifted up on the cross. The bringer of death - the serpents and the cross - becomes the way of life.

Today, know that Jesus took sin unto Himself and gave you His righteousness, so that you might live, and live forever.

Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

 

2 Corinthians 4:18-19 ...as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient; but the things that are unseen are eternal.

Floods. Earthquakes. Fires. Hurricanes. Tornadoes. One can hardly go for a day without seeing images of people whose homes have been destroyed and demolished, often leaving nothing except their foundations. What do survivors search for in the rubble? Reminders of what lasts when the physical is taken away.

It's important to remember that we are only stewards of what we, today, call home. It will not last forever, but what happens inside its walls will. Remembering this urges us to focus less on stuff and more on meaning. I know people who give their children and grandchildren experiences as gifts as Christmas rather than something that will eventually be used up or thrown away. It's important to hold onto what we have, but let's hold it loosely, for it's not our eternal home.

That's what Advent is all about. We prepare our homes for Christ's coming now because we know he will come again. Today's home is temporary; our heavenly home will last forever.

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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,