“Doubt is a luxury we can’t afford right now, sweetie.”
– Elastigirl
(Helen Parr) to her daughter Violet in The
Incredibles
Allow
me the chance to propose to you my theory of “Accelerated Backwardness.” I’m sure that despite the awkward name, this
theory is very familiar to all of you.
It seems to me that almost everything on this earth takes much less time
to undo or do in reverse than it does to make it in the first place. Here are a few examples:
- Climbing a hill or mountain takes longer than it does coming down. Now, of course, gravity may have a part in this, but regardless, it supports this point.
- Oftentimes it takes much longer to find a place than it does to find your way home from it.
- It takes nine months to create life, and less than nine-tenths of a second to destroy it.
- An author can take a lifetime creating his work, and it can take an everyday reader a month to read through it all.
- A large tree may have taken lifetimes to grow to its current size, but all it takes is a few pieces of heavy equipment and a few minutes to cut it down.
- A bottle of fine wine may ferment for years on end, but all it takes is a few minutes for a drinker or two for it to be gone.
- It can take you a substantial amount of hours (and for those more diligent, days) to cram/study for a huge and important exam that only lasts for an hour or two.
- A Thanksgiving feast may take endless hours, maybe even days to produce, but all it takes is an hour for a family to devour it all.
You all know
what I’m talking about now, don’t you?
It’s one of those overlooked facts of life on earth, and we are all
familiar with it.
But this is not
a scribble about some true but seemingly insignificant fact of life. This is about our individual lives in Christ. We are all at war with an enemy that is far
too adept and shrewd to be taken lightly, yet many if not all of us appear to
be soldiers fighting against a puppy.
This is not meant to be. Dare I
say it, but I see in all of us, myself most of all, a lack of urgency that could
lead to our accelerated backward downfall.
“A little sleep,
a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest – and poverty will come
on your like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man.” (Proverbs 6:10-11) Many of us take this as some biblical
financial advice, an adage to live by.
We take it to mean that we must be diligent or else we may be in danger
of becoming poor. But I don’t think that
the Creator of all things, our God and Father would place this in His very own
Word just to make sure that we don’t fall into fiscal distress.
Dear brothers,
this is a warning not to be taken in light of our bank accounts, but in light
of this war that we are all in. Poverty
and Scarcity are names for our enemy, who will surely bring about both of these
in our spiritual lives if we are not careful.
Take some time with
me now to reflect. Think about all of
your commitments, promises, and vows that you have made to yourself or to God,
or to anyone else.
Go ahead. Do it.
Now, I’m sure
that most of these promises were inherently good. They were oaths to better ourselves or a
situation in some way, by forsaking a bad habit, focusing on a part of our
character that has been lacking, or taking action against a harmful situation. And if you are anything like me, as you think
about these countless pledges, you come to realize that the vast majority of
them were made in vain and with dishonest, unwise, and impulsive lips and
hearts.
Now take some
time with me to imagine. What if we all
followed through on each and every one of those commitments we made? I don’t know about you, but I envision a
church filled with more of Christ’s love and emptied of much bitterness and
immaturity. I also envision myself as a
more complete, whole, peaceful, joyful, and loving man of God. Now, let’s imagine that all Christians around
the entire globe followed through on their commitments? I can’t fully comprehend that, but I can’t
help but to picture something that is all too near to heaven.
The point is
this: With each and every moment we remain idle, lying in the mire of our own
sin and disappointment, our enemy is closer to reaching his dastardly goal,
which is to undermine and ruin the relationship with our Father that has been
thus far been so beautifully and wonderfully wrought. Though it may have taken years upon years for
God to soften your heart and mind, allowing you to reach the maturity you have
been granted today, do not doubt for a second that all it takes is a few days,
hours, or moments of doubt, self-pity, and unfaithfulness for it all to be torn
down to rubble.
As Elastigirl so
wisely puts it, doubt is definitely not a luxury we can afford right now. Do not lie ignorantly secure in thinking that
your past has already secured your future.
A life as God’s child is not free from the duties and responsibilities
of a soldier at war. It is our calling
to take each and every moment on the attack against our enemy, to take back
bridges that have been taken from us and to claim them in our King’s name once
again.
Let’s stop
uttering empty promises and let’s stop imagining. It is time to start to create realities with
the commitments of our mouths and hearts, while never doubting, even for a
second, that He will be faithful in all He does in our lives. For too long we have waded in the riches of
our ignorance, spending lavishly on doubts of all kinds, but it is time that we
take up our weapons and go on the offensive.
It is time to take back that all-important bridge that joins our desires
and our actions.
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