See it First

I have always been a visual learner. You can talk to me about something, but until I see it, I have a hard time grasping it. This became apparent to me when I was first trying to learn the olympic lifts. I read all the articles on "how to snatch and clean" but it just made no sense to me. Then, I got on youtube and my world was changed.

It wasn't until I started watching other people lift, people who were better than me, that I understood the speed, precision, strength, and passion necessary to become a weightlifter. Sometimes it takes seeing somebody else do something before we can really understand it. Donald Miller speaks of this phenomenon:

"I never liked jazz music because jazz music doesn't resolve. But I was outside the Bagdad Theater in Portland one night when I saw a man playing the saxophone. I stood there for fifteen minutes, and he never opened his eyes.

After that, I liked jazz music.

Sometimes you have to watch somebody love something before you can love it yourself. It is as if they are showing you the way."

If we're honest, the love of God is a hard thing to grasp. We hear it preached from the pulpit every Sunday morning, and we are engrained with phrases such as "God is love". That's great and all, but for those of us who are visual learners, it sometimes takes something more physical and tangible for us to truly begin to understand the depth of His unconditional, unfailing love. For me, one such moment happened the other night as I unfolded the story of my life to my best friend. All my shortcomings, all my failures, all my trials and mistakes were laid on the table. It was a vulnerable place, one- if I'm honest- I was not to thrilled to be in. She could have walked out, and she could have told me what a screw-up and failure I was, but instead she offered grace, love, support, and forgiveness to me. It was humbling to think how undeserving I was of that kind of love- a love that is not based on condition or merit, but a love that stands by you even when you are at your worst. In her love for me, I was given the clearest of pictures of the Lord's unending, unfailing, unquenchable love for his people. It is a love that is redemptive. It is a love that brings freedom and joy. It is a love that you can be thankful for on the good days, and a love you can cling to when your life seems to be falling a part. It's a love that I had heard about plenty of times, but until I experienced it firsthand, I couldn't get my mind around it.

Sometimes we have to see it first before we can grasp it. Maybe you will be the one to show someone else. In either case, it brings me joy knowing that the Lord's love is real, steadfast, and pure.

"This is how God showed his love among us: he sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us... And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgement, because in this world we are like him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us." -1 John 4:9-12, 16-19

Blessings.

Move On

Sometimes, things don't all go according to plan. You can put in all the time, work, discipline, and effort, and things still don't pan out like you want them to. Failure is a perpetual occurrence in the world of weightlifting and CrossFit. In these moments, we have a choice- to get frustrated and quit, or to roll with the punches, learn from failure, and move on. For me, I seem to be able to do this pretty well in the gym (maybe it's because I fail so often that I have learned to move on quickly). What is much more difficult is releasing myself from failure and moving on when I fail in life.

Failure is something we all must deal with. Maybe it's failing a test. Maybe it's missing a deadline. Maybe it's feeling like we are failing in a relationship. Perhaps we feel like failures with our job, or our kids, or worst of all our pursuit of Christ. A friend of mine once wrote in a letter to me something that stuck with me:

"There is no failure in the eyes of our Maker as long as we do not forsake Him in the midst of it." -J. Smith

It is in these moments of failure that we are refined, that we are sharpened, and that we are humbly reminded of our imperfections and need for someone greater to justify us. How glorious it is that we have such a man- Jesus, the Christ, our King. In Him, all my failures- past, present, and future- are washed away by His blood (Revelation 1:5). In Him, I have freedom (Galatians 5:1). In Him, there is no condemnation (Romans 8:1). When we hold on to our failures, and when we fixate our eyes on them rather than releasing them and moving on, we are holding on to something that Christ has already paid for, and in doing so revealing a lack of trust in the fact that His payment on the cross was enough. But thanks be to God that it was enough! Trust His promise- that when He said "it is finished," He meant it.

Hold fast brothers and sisters. Blessings.

The Reward of Waiting on what is Promised

By now, I'm sure most of you have a general idea of the flow of this blog. I typically start by talking about olympic style weightlifting, or CrossFit, then transition into something spiritual that has been on my mind or that the Lord has been teaching me, then move into how that applies to our daily lives.  Today, as much as I tried, I just didn't have anything to talk about when it comes to fitness, but much to say in regards to the life that Christ calls us to live.

The book of Genesis is filled with stories of how different men related to God. Some were faithful, others were evil, some found favor, while others found wrath. One such man was Abraham, the forefather of the nation of Israel. I will attempt to be brief, but a little background story is needed for context.

In chapter 11 of Genesis, we see men's desire for security ("let us build a city... lest we be dispersed" (11:4)) and praise ("let us build a tower with its tops in the heavens... that we might make a name for ourselves" (11:4)) lead to their demise when they build the Tower of Babel. Laid across this backdrop, Abram (later to be renamed Abraham) enters the picture in chapter 12. The Lord calls him to leave behind all that makes him secure, saying, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house..." (12:1). He goes on to promise Abram that he will "bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing... and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed" (12:2-3).

Abram trusted the Lord, and had faith that he would deliver on his promise, even if it forced him to be uncomfortable. He left his homeland in search of a new home. Long story short, his nephew Lot was taken captive by an alliance of four kings who invade the Jordan Valley. When Abram got word of this, he marshaled a small force and went to battle against the kings, setting the captives free. Proving his military prowess, Abram could have gone on to conquer lands of his own, securing possessions, servants, and power. The possibility must have seemed tempting, especially when in chapter 14 the king of Sodom offered him to "take all the goods for yourself" (v. 21). Rather than succumb to the fleeting pleasures of the world, Abram denied himself of man's praise, choosing instead to wait on the promised reward from the Lord. "

But Abram said to the king of Sodom, "I have lifted my hand to the Lord, God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth, that I would not take a thread or a sandal strap or anything that is yours, lest you should say, 'I have made Abram rich.'..." (13:22-23)

His faith was rewarded, and in chapter 15 the Lord reaffirms his promise to Abram, saying, "Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great" (15:1). By rejecting the use of human wealth to achieve greatness, Abram demonstrated his willingness to wait for God to provide. Faith in God was something everyone in the Bible was expected to exercise. It entails trust in or confident reliance on God, based on the truthfulness of his words, and it will lead to obeying his commands.

As I reflected on this story, I couldn't help but think how difficult it can be to trust in and wait on the Lord sometimes. We want a sign, we want him to just come out and speak to us, but often times it just doesn't work like that. I suppose that's the whole point of faith- "being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see" (Hebrews 11:1). Faith often requires us to be uncomfortable- to step outside of our comfort zone like Abram did when he left his homeland; to not seek man's praise, but the Lord's like Abram did when he refused to conquer other lands; to trust that when the Lord says he will do something, he will do it.

It would have been easy for Abram to not exhibit faith, and to do things on his own, to desire his own glory, to seek his own security. It would be just as easy for us to do the same; to not wait on the Lord when searching for a husband/wife, but just find someone who is pretty; to not give back to the Lord when finances get tight, but instead hoard all of your resources; to not trust him when he says that he is after our joy, and that his rules are for our good and his glory, but instead to seek after the fleeting pleasures of this world- sex, wine, power, money, fame. Faith requires much of us- trust, patience, steadfastness. But it is worth it, brothers. There is much reward for those who wait on the Lord.

Here are a few promises of the Lord that we are to claim, hope in, and wait for:

Matthew 11:28-29
Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Isaiah 40:29-31
He gives power to the weak
and strength to the powerless. 
Even youths will become weak and tired,
and young men will fall in exhaustion. 
But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength.
They will soar high on wings like eagles.
They will run and not grow weary.
They will walk and not faint.

Philippians 4:19
And the same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which has been given to us in Christ Jesus.

Proverbs 1:33
But all who listen to me will live in peace,
untroubled by fear or harm

Exodus 14:14
The Lord will fight for you, you need only to be silent.

John 14:27
I am leaving you with a gift- peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don't be troubled or afraid.

Romans 10:9
If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord ,and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Blessings.

Unearned

I have been chasing after the mythical 4 plate squat for about 2 years now. I have tried it several times before, never with success. Through months (and months and months and months...) of hard work, I finally was able to squat it... for a double!

One of the things I love most about weightlifting and CrossFit is that they are very objective in the way you are rewarded. What I mean is that one way or another, hard work always pays off. It really is quite simple: if I work hard enough, and if I consistently give effort and do the things that I don't necessarily want to do (squat...), then I will reap the reward of my labor. The more dedication, focus, and effort I put into the work, the sweeter and more bountiful the fruit I yield. It is quite linear, and makes sense in my head, and that's what I like about it. You put in hard work, you get out results.

What is more difficult for me to understand is the way in which the Lord freely gives out His grace. In my head, what would make sense is a typical "if-then" situation: if I do good things, and if I try hard enough, then the Lord will give me grace. I operated out of this understanding of the dispensation of grace for the first 18 years of my life. It drove me to the point of attempting to become my own savior, leading to much frustration and guilt, and a perpetual feeling that I wasn't doing enough (probably because I wasn't!). I remember quite vividly the moment when that all changed- I was a senior in high school, and someone sat me down and explained to me that the Lord didn't love me because of the things I had to offer him, and that all of my works amounted to nothing before Him, but that His favor toward me was based not off of what I had done but rather what Christ had done. How free I felt in knowing that I no longer had to earn, but simply rest in the grace that was freely given to me. That though I had put in sin, rebellion, and disobedience, when I put my trust in Christ I got out grace.

Though I know this to be true of the Lord, and of His Gospel of Grace, I still oftentimes find my heart operating out of my former understanding. My guess is that many of you feel the same. Though we know and trust that Jesus died for all of our former sins, we still feel the need to atone for our current sins, as if His cross was not powerful enough. What we must cling to with unwavering faith is the reality that all of our sins, past, present, and future, were nailed to the cross, and that when He said, "it is finished" (John 19:30), He meant it. We can never hope to be our own savior, but must instead place our hope in the true Savior, Jesus our King. Remember what the apostle Paul said: "And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace" (Romans 11:6). Grace is unearned!

A favorite poem of mine, written by 18th century revivalist John Berridge, portrays this beautifully:

"Run, John, and work", the law commands,

yet gives me neither feet nor hands,

But sweeter news the gospel brings,

it bids me "fly" and gives me wings!

Blessings.