Wisdom 14 C'mon, Take the Lunge

[HKHaugan]

Wisdom 14 C’mon, Take the Lunge!

 You’ve heard the expression, ‘Get a life!’ Usually it is the response we give when someone is moaning and groaning about themselves while their real problem is refusing to face the truth or making excuses or looking for sympathy. It’s an attitude based on someone or something to blame instead of getting on with life. Disciples of Jesus know it as a pre-Christ attitude, an old self-help technique that ends up with people avoiding you and never accomplishing anything. There are a number of these self-help attitudes that go nowhere. Most are based on the fear of rejection and doing whatever it takes to look good. That ‘good’ defined by what happens to be the secular principle of the moment. Working hard at playing a role that is not you but someone you think will be accepted, becomes a tiresome and exhausting practice.

 But there is a life that gets the job done and that is the one found in Christ. Paul says this to the Colossian believers, “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness (Col.2:6-7).” Time to dig into those verses.

 It starts with receiving Christ. The Greek root word for receive is ‘lambano,’ a very strong word. It means to grab hold of, to grasp tightly, to seize. When I was a lifeguard in my earlier days, I worked at a camp and two different resorts. One resort was on a lake with a large swimming area. It required I use a rowboat to move more quickly in case someone was in trouble. Several times, because of the flat stern shape that was easy to grab, I had to row backwards into the reach of someone struggling to stay above water. When I’d get to them they, out of sheer desperate fear, would lunge, seize, grab hold, of the back of the boat and several times almost swamped the boat just trying to get in.

 In the same sense, when we face the plight of being alone in the face of uncontrollable circumstance, a collapsing life, a haunting past, we reach out into the invisible and plea for God’s help, presence and support. It’s really a lunge in faith for someone or something out there to help. You can’t but think of the alcoholic or addict who has come to the end of their rope grasping for ‘the higher power.’ It doesn’t have to be that dramatic or calamitous but receiving Christ is essential. We need to see and feel to some degree that a tight hold, a firm grasp of the person of Jesus, is the life preserver the Father throws to us to prevent our drowning in the sea of sin and evil that is the world’s ocean. It’s not only the ocean without, it’s also the ocean within. Jesus is the only One who can provide the oxygen of the Holy Spirit to revive your mind, heart and spirit. Receive Him and His offer.

 The question then becomes, “Do I get perfect when I receive Him?” The answer is no. The moment you receive Him, take hold of Him, you began to grow spiritually. You were spiritually born and became an infant who started growing spiritually. But spiritual growth is a continual process. You spend the rest of your earthly life growing in Him, for Him and by Him through the Holy Spirit. Paul describes the process very succinctly. “Since you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to grow in Him (2:6).”

 Growing in Christ is three dimensional. As images of God there are three dimensions in us, mind, heart and spirit. Those are the dimensions of the image in us that need to grow. Paul continues in vs.7 to make that clear when he says that growth comes by being “rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.” This verse speaks to the mind ”be rooted,” to the heart “built up” and to the spirit “strengthened in the faith.”

 Consider the fact Paul used these three action concepts, rooted, built up and strengthened. ‘Rooted’ has to do with what the mind believes about Jesus. ‘Built up’ has to do with the depth of heart’s trust in Jesus. ‘Strengthened’ in the faith has to do with motivation to act out what our mind and heart gives our spirit to follow Jesus and share Him in any given moment.

 Let’s look at ‘rooted.’ Now we are talking about what the mind believes, the structure of the ideas about Jesus we learn from Scripture. To start with He is the eternal Son of the Father, God the Son, Creator, Savior, Lord, Redeemer, Advocate, Healer, Righteous One, Messiah, I AM. He is the Resurrection and the Life, Bread of Life, Light of the World, Lamb of God, Good Shepherd, the Gate, the Way, the Truth and the Life. Each of these speak to His nature, His personality, His relationship with His Father, the Spirit and us.

 It’s the ability to have a personal relationship with God through Jesus that gives the mind the desire to know more about Him. That knowledge comes from Scripture. It contains the structure of the ideas about God that the mind uses as a basis for spiritual reasoning. Belief involves knowing the identity of God and our identity, His purpose and our purpose, the way he functions and how He calls us to function. The more the mind focuses on who Jesus is, the more we offer the heart. The Holy Spirit translates its words into workable spiritual principles to countermand the secular

 If what the mind believes about Jesus is logical, the heart can embrace. It’s the heart that discerns the presence of spiritual reality and, most importantly, distinguishes the difference between evil and good. The heart is the chamber of attitude and a spiritually oriented heart can trust the presence of the Lord to confront our tendency to retain secular attitudes and correct us to see Christ’s attitude. Because it is the most deceptive part of us, it is the heart that needs transforming to grow, to mature and leave the dependency we have to follow the world’s principles. Having a heart for Jesus is learning as much as we can about Him in order to trust Him when we move into the world of people. It is the heart that needs to be reformed, reshaped and restored to build a singular attitude of trust which leads to more confidence in His presence.

 If the mind and heart are working together then Holy Spirit directed action will follow. If the mind grows in belief and the heart grows in trust then the motivation to act is the faith in Jesus that will produce the words and action that make up our witness for Him. This is precisely why Paul is so hot on justification by faith. What he’s saying is that unity in mind and heart brings unity so that faith to act happens. The action we take is faith working. James is big on faith in that sense. Show him action and that will be faith to him. When you look for someone to share Jesus with, that’s the mind and heart at work. When you share, that is faith. If someone is in trouble and you are thinking Jesus, then open your heart to that person and follow the Spirit’s leading to be a neighbor, that is faith. Belief leads to trust and trust leads to faith. When these three are in balance you share your testimony or whatever the moment demands. This is how we are called to honor Jesus by sharing Him in belief, trust and faith.

 If someone tells you to get a life, just tell them you got one. Knowing Jesus and making Him known is how you get a life, share a life and give a life, a real life, life in Christ. By faith He lunged into death on the Cross to save us. Jesus promises that He has a firm grasp, an eternal hold on us when we turn to Him (Jn.6:39). So, let’s sponge the grunge, take the plunge to lunge.