One of the greatest joys of being a parent is watching one’s children grow up.
It happens so quickly that if close attention isn’t paid, something significant could be missed. My nearly four year-old daughter is no exception. I am amazed when she stands in our living room and improvises her role in a future ballet production. I am astonished when she shows me that she can write her name. I am astounded when she begins quoting Sam I Am’s lines from Green Eggs and Ham—after hearing the story once. And I am humbled that God chooses to teach me through her observations of the world.
A case in point: Rebecca’s love of books led me to surprise her with a trip to the library last week. As we headed back to the car, we passed by a small canal. Suddenly she yelled, “Daddy! Look at the ducks down there!” I peered over the edge of the railing, and sure enough, there were two ducks swimming in the brownish waters below. We stood there, transfixed, for a minute or two. She was excited that the ducks were coming our way. But I saw something else.
There was an intense current attempting to pull the ducks underneath a nearby bridge. They kept getting closer to us, but were spending large amounts of energy in the process. Suddenly, one of the ducks plunged its head under the water for a second. By the time it had resurfaced, the current had pulled the duck five feet backwards.
Eventually the ducks made it to where Rebecca and I were standing, causing her to laugh and me to think about an important truth.
Christians are like the ducks we saw in the canal that sunny afternoon—swimming against the currents of the world and its actions, beliefs, and ideas. There must be a reason we do this, don’t you think? Otherwise, we should just stop fighting and surrender to the inevitable.
But we do have a reason: Jesus. The life he lived, the teachings he taught, and the sacrifice he made for all humanity—these compel us to jump into the water and swim vigorously in his direction. At the same time, this desire drives us to invite others to join us on the journey (cf. Acts 1:8).
To actively follow Christ involves an understanding that the trip will not be as simple as we would like. There will be challenges and opportunities along the way. We must always be ready and willing to keep swimming despite any obstacles or setbacks that may arise.
It takes discipline. It takes discernment. It takes determination.
Let’s briefly look at why these are so important:
- Discipline is critical to a follower of Jesus because it provides a level of consistency necessary for fighting the daily battles of life. Jesus made it a point to often spend focused time with God in prayer (Luke 5:16). Those encounters helped prepare him for his most difficult challenge—facing death on a cross (Luke 22:39-42). Without discipline, we run the risk of developing a faith that is run by our personal whims and situations. It’s inconsistent faith at best and destructive faith at worst. Various elements make up a disciplined lifestyle of faith: Bible study, prayer, worship, and witnessing to others in words and actions. Some people may add accountability, journaling, and fasting to these, but the ultimate key is knowing God intimately and expressing him relevantly to a world going the wrong way—quickly.
- Why is discernment important? That’s a fair question that deserves a fair answer. As a follower of Jesus spends time with him, they learn what things are central to his heart. What things are of importance in a particular situation. What people need to be impacted and changed for eternity. At this point, the person can be used quite effectively by God.
Discernment is also vital in understanding and combating the attacks thrown at us by our adversary the devil. Paul makes it clear that we’re not fighting people, but the things we cannot see (Ephesians 6:11). His words also serve to reinforce the significance of always being prepared for battle. Christianity is not a spectator’s sport; there are no time-outs and no out-of-bounds markers.
- Determination comes into the picture during those times when we have no answers for the situations we face. An unexpected death, a sickness, the loss of a job, a strained relationship—any of these can bring us to a point of despair. At these times, the question we must answer is, “What am I going to allow this situation to do to me, those around me, and the faith I claim?” Our answer, to a large degree, exhibits what we believe about the Lord and his plans for us (Jeremiah 29:11-13). This, in turn, can lead to either a renewed confidence or a crushing disappointment. Yet despite this, we can take heart that Jesus will strengthen us until the very end (1 Corinthians 1:8).
We have a race to complete, one that will take us the rest of our lives. Like the ducks Rebecca and I saw recently, we swim against the ideas, morals, and ways of modern society. We keep moving, keep fighting, keep pressing forward, while allowing God to use our lives to help people know Jesus as Forgiver and Leader.
Ask God today to examine your life in the areas of discipline, discernment, and determination. Allow him to make the changes he finds necessary. And may you be truly refreshed as a result, that you may in turn refresh others.
“All moments are key moments.”
—Frederick Buechner1
“Even though I am free of the demands and expectations of everyone, I have voluntarily become a servant to any and all in order to reach a wide range of people: religious, nonreligious, meticulous moralists, loose-living immoralists, the defeated, the demoralized—whoever. I didn’t take on their way of life. I kept my bearings in Christ—but I entered their world and tried to experience things from their point of view. I’ve become just about every sort of servant there is in my attempts to lead those I meet into a God-saved life. I did all of this because of the Message. I didn’t just want to talk about it; I wanted to be in on it!”
—Paul, 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 (The Message)
1 Frederick Buechner, Then and Now, Harper SanFrancisco, 1983, p. 92.
All material copyright 2006 J. Alan Sharrer. No part of this email may be reproduced—other than the forwarding of the original, unaltered email message—without express written permission.
