Stop Trippin, Start Walkin.

My friend and I were eating lunch together the other day at our school.  This is a guy who I have essentially grown up with. This is the same guy that I witnessed come to Christ just a few years ago.  We are pretty close friends.  Anyway, we were sitting outside under an awning because it was a really hot day. If you know me,  you know I dislike this part of the year because of that. The heat never seems to agree with my preference of clothing.  I am definitely not a fan of shorts.  So as we ate our food and discussed life in general, my friend said something that caught my ear.  Specifically, we had been discussing the Christian life as it relates on the ground level: the living of it.  

Sure, the whole thing seems wonderful and easy in your mind.  The trouble begins when the rubber is forced to meet the road.  Matt was talking about how so many people misunderstand the Christian life in its practical terms, which he pointed out is the source of their spiritual discomfort and inhibition.  

He looked at me and said "People need to stop trippin', and start walkin'." At first this made me laugh.  The use of such an urban metaphor seemed funny for such an important truth.  But the more I thought about his phrase, the more sense it made.  For those of you who don't know, Trippin'  has a new cultural meaning these days.  It means literally: to be freaking out, or to freak out.  To trip. 

At least thats one way to interpret it.  The other way that Christians seem to be trippin' these days is in the area of sin.  When I say trip' in this sense I am really saying fall. I often find myself in this stumbling position when I go to school.  It is very discouraging to be running as hard as you can toward the will of God only to trip upon some stumbling block in your path.  

Although we may trip(fall) in that way, we must not allow ourselves to trip out about it.  As Christians, we can't allow ourselves to become burdened with our failures and with our sinful nature.  

For instance, I personally struggle with lust on a daily basis. Being a young man in an American culture doesn't help much with my natural tendency stumble in this area.  Although this part of my life needs to be under the control of Jesus, I must never forget what the whole point of the Gospel is in the first place.  Christ came to free us from our burden and sin.  I do not need to trip about the fact that I will fall sometimes!  

In fact, the more I dwell upon my failure, the less biblical my attitude becomes.  The result is a Christian who is walking in defeat! WHAT? Doesn't that sound wrong to anyone? If it does, thats because it IS wrong!  Christ is our victory.  We no longer need to try to fulfill the law of God by our own merit and foolish attempts at righteousness. Christ is our righteousness and in Him we are saved from condemnation.  That is a VICTORY! 

The victory that we have over sin in Christ is what draws me to worship Him.  That leads into the second part of what Matt said that day.  Christians need to start walking. Once again, that may sound obvious to many of us. It did to me. But as I thought about walking in the faith, I realized that it is so much more than just going through the motions.  

To walk in the faith is to live a life of victory.  Not a victory that we have won, nor is it a victory that allows us to boast of our own ability or intelligence.  Christ alone has secured His kingdom in our lives.  We had no part in our salvation, nor will we have any part in the finished work of God.  He does not need us to build His kingdom.  Yet, the beautiful part is that He allows us to participate in the construction of it.  

For me it came down to this: Trippin is worrying about me.  When I am the focus things will never go right in the long run.  Matt was right when he said I needed to start Walking.  

As I walk in the faith I see that God picks up the slack in my steps, lengthens my stride, and most importantly of all, is always there to save me when I trip. 

 

In The End

As I was sitting in my english class yesterday, I couldn't help but ask myself why I was even in school. It was senior ditch day and there I was, one of 4 poor souls that for some reason or another couldn't muster the balls to ditch school.  Each and every class consisted of three or four kids that had no other options than school, and me. Yeah, the day sucked.  The only consolation that seemed to deaden the pain was the prospect of going shopping as soon as school was out.  And not just any shopping, shoe shopping. 

Shoe shopping is the best. Of all the articles of clothing that make up an outfit, the shoes make or break the man.  Kicks count.   My best friend picked me up as soon as the bell of freedom rang, and off we went.  My heart thumped as we arrived at the skate shop.  This place always had the best shoes.  In fact, I was so certain that they would have what I wanted that I brought 100 bucks in case I needed more than one pair. Sure enough, as I approached the towering display of sneakers my mouth began to water.  I could see at least five pairs that I would have no problem buying immediately.   

I started calling out sizes. Can I get these Adidas in a 10 1/2?  "No problem man!" The salesman guy could tell that we had come to drop some major cash.  "Agh dude.... don't have em... bummer bro." Big bummer indeed. No problem though, there were still four possibilities left.  I called each and every one of them out to him.  One by one, the guy kept coming back from storage with that same look of epic failure in his face.  This hot spot shoe store did not have a single pair that I wanted in my size. Major let down. I settled for my number six choice, they had them in a 10 1/2.  

After the day was over, I laid in my bed contemplating my job at a local fast food place.  The job was hard, my boss is mean, and the pay is nearly as low as it can go..legally. Just the other night one of my co workers broke the sink off of the wall.  I cant wait to see what my boss has to say to me, the manager of the shift. 

Then it hit me. Each of these intertwined bummers had a purpose.  

To finish the story, because I went to school yesterday I was able to have some one on one time with my struggling english teacher.  I learned that she is struggling in more ways than one. She was recently let go, and is moving to Norway to take care of her sick father.  My heart was broken by her story. I was able to invite her to come to my church so she can be strengthened and prayed for if she was willing.  The look on her face began as bewilderment but quickly changed to relief and hope as I explained to her what it was like in the living room at Metro.  She may soon come to see for herself. 

At the skate shop I was forced to buy shoes I didn't totally love in the beginning.  When I got home I threw them on the table as I grabbed something from the fridge.  My mom took a look at them and quickly complemented me on my ability to pick out the best ones that she had seen in a while. Cool. She liked them.  My brother walked in about 15 minutes later and stopped cold to point out how he thought my shoes were "sick" (awesome).  I took another good look at them and within minutes I was convinced that I had bought the best pair in the store. They were even better than the ones I had previously wanted.  

At work, I realized that I have a specific reason for being there that was not my own.  The people I work with are hurting. Each one of them have come to me for prayer or with questions about who Jesus really was and what He really said.  They trust me, and God has placed me there to teach them and to comfort them in their afflictions, as ugly and as painful as they may be.  

I believe that the disciples had this same feeling of let down followed by glorious revelation as I have had in my life.  They walked and talked with the most loving and mighty man in all of history for three years strait, only to watch Him be tortured and killed brutally before His kingdom could even be established. 

The disciples thought that life had let them down, that Jesus had let them down.  But on the third day He got up out of the grave to remind them once again of His, and their, true purpose.  

All things work together for the good of those who love Him.  

Maybe not in the beginning, but always in the end.  

He Got Up

For most of my life I have struggled with moderate to severe depressive episodes. They often come upon me directly after instances of personal failure or rejection. Yet the worst seemingly come out of nowhere.

The basic episodes that have to do with failure or rejection might seem obvious in their root cause. I have found it to be increasingly true that sin leads to death in and around my life. When I speak of failure, I mean a moral failure. Likewise, when I speak of rejection I mean a rejection from the Holy Spirit to fill me. Both are a direct result of sin within my life and activity. Both hurt deeply.

It is true that sin leads not only to physical death, but to spiritual death as well. And, what is sown in the soul shall be reaped in the body time and time again. The fact is that sin leads to death. There is no way around that fact.

Yet, sin is not what worries mankind. Death is what worries mankind. The reason is this: Man cannot conquer death. No matter what we accomplish during life, death is looming inevitably above our heads.

Why is death so horrifying? All of the good works that I can do, all of the people I can help, all of the love and beauty that is in the world, will mean nothing if death is the end. None of it will mean anything to anyone ultimately, if death continues on as the chief end of nature.

Since the beginning man has been defeated by death and its interminable chains. All of the beauty of the world and creation, held down by the weight of sin. No art could do more than capture the great tragedy. No writer could do any more than articulate the great despair of existence.

Nor can human will could push through the wall of inborn folly and evil.

Since the beginning man has laid on the ground, struck down and utterly beaten by sin, unable to move. This is what I mean when I say that I battle with depression. Many days have gone by where I am simply lost in this fog of terror and spiritual helplessness. Defeat is often the first place I am tempted to head. These are only the minor episodes.

Even still, the real pain has always been somewhere else within mankind. The real pain comes from the feeling that there was always something more they were designed for. Man has been forced to crawl as long as he can remember. Even as the memory of flight then turns to legend, and then from legend to myth, man cannot shake his desire for wings.

Such is the plight of man. Such is my pain.

The beauty is that my Father in heaven cared about that. He cared about it so much that He sent His own son to die instead of me, and to conquer death once and for all. Jesus Christ came to pay the penalty for all sin and to take the final fall. He went down to death itself and paid the ransom for the souls of the world, using Himself as the propitiation.

And once the price was fully paid, He arose from the blackness with the keys to Glory in His mighty hands. Because He did so, He promised life eternal to those who will trust Him.

Depression will come and go. But, the promise of eternal life from the lips of Jesus Christ Himself will never leave me.

How do I know?

When death hit Him, He Got Up.