Tuesday, December 17, 2013

The Seemingly Never-Ending Game of Tug Of War

Recently during class at church, we were asked to sketch a picture that represents our spirituality. At first, I thought it would be difficult; I can barely describe my spirituality, let alone draw it. Everyone got creative, though. There were drawings ranging from bumpy roads to mountains and valleys.

Mine may sound kind of cliché, but it really does fit. I drew a game of tug of war. Two people pulling a rope, trying to pull hard enough to cause the other to fall in the patch of mud that's in the middle.

I consider myself the little flag that usually hangs in the middle of the rope. I'm being pulled in either direction, whichever one happens to be stronger at the moment. I think you can guess who is on either side, right? Well, yes, it's God on one side and Satan on the other. And of course, God is usually the one winning. But the question is: why hasn't God won already?

See, most of the time I think I find myself right in the middle. Standing in the mud, so to speak. Stuck, not really knowing which way to go, being pulled in different directions. I desperately want God to win, to get that one good yank that will pull me out and right into His arms. There have been so many moments where I feel like I've gotten so close; moments where I can practically see and feel Him. But then, Satan happens to get a particularly strong pull and I find myself right back in the mud.

The same Sunday, my dad taught a sermon on the metaphor used to describe the birth of Jesus found in Revelations 12. Satan is portrayed as a great dragon that tries to kill baby Jesus as soon as he is born, but he fails, so he decides to “wage war” on “those who keep God's commands and hold fast to their testimony about Jesus”.

So my depiction of my spirituality as a game of tug of war seems pretty accurate. It isn't as gruesome as a full out war, but either way God and Satan are fighting over us.

These two lessons hit home. I recently had an experience that had me questioning God, wondering why He let this happen. These thoughts allowed Satan to pull me closer for just a second. And it's like I can just feel God begging me to trust Him, to have faith in Him. But it's hard, isn't it? It's easy to tell someone else to have faith when they're going through something hard. When it happens to us? Faith can sometimes go out the window entirely.

The story that went along with the drawings was about Paul. Persecutor of the Jews turned passionate missionary for Christ. Can you imagine what his drawing would look like? Considering how quickly and drastically his life changed, I'd say it would be kind of hard to describe. But the fact is that he did change. In one instance, Paul describes how God put a thorn in his flesh to torment him, and at first he begged God take it away. But God responded, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” You know how Paul reacted? 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

I pride myself in being a Christian, but I doubt I would have been that understanding. But that's just how we have to be. We go through hardships so that we realize that we aren't strong enough, that we need God because He's the strong one. There's a song that I learned at a summer church camp, and I love the words in the chorus:

You are stronger
You are stronger
Sin is broken
You have saved me
It is written
Christ is risen
Jesus, you are Lord of all

That's what we need to remember. God is stronger. Sin is broken, God has saved us.

Yes, Satan is occasionally going to get a good, strong pull now and again. That's life. But we just have to know that, in the end, God is going to win. And in the meantime, we should be helping Him; trying our best to get to Him, pulling against Satan and toward God. Who wants to be just a stick in the mud, right?

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If God is for us, who can be against us?”