Home plate sliders

One of the guys at our men's meeting talked about believers who by their behavior despise the rich and glorious entrance into heaven (2 Pet1:11) available to them if they would "make every effort to supplement faith with virtue, virtue with knowledge, knowledge with self-control, self-control with steadfastness, steadfastness with godliness, godliness with brotherly affection and brotherly affection with love." (2 Pet 1:5-7). He described them with a baseball analogy of one who rushes to the home plate and slides in, there is all this dust and no one can tell whether or not they are safe. In my sermon from 2 Pet (http://www.ccmiddleriver.org/mp3/2014/11/2014-11-16.mp3) I gave an analogy of finishing a race. There is the victorious 'Kodak moment' finish - hands raised in victory, smiles and all. And then there is the 'barely made it' finish - head hanging, almost walking run with the desperate look that says, "Please tell me it is over?" I run and have experienced both those finishes and many in between. The second comes from races I was essentially unprepared for so they whipped me in every way.

I find that many sliders are either raised in Christian homes, have been believers for a long time (but are sedentary in the church), or were saved very early in life. To my shame, I tend to identify with sliders. In a discussion with another believer years ago, he said it this way, "The Lord called me from my sin and I knew it was terrible. Now that I am born again I do not want to see or hear the things I used to do before I knew the Lord. I raised my children in the knowledge of the Lord and it seems they try to see how close to the edge they can walk without falling into all those things I ran from years ago."

With another believer I had the following conversation after I told him how I was born again, "I was born again later in life and my wife not long after me. I envy guys like you, you do not carry the terrible memories, the bad relationships, and scars of a life without Christ. Our son has grown up in the church and he desires to walk close to the things we left. It is as if he wants to experience for himself the horrors I try so hard to save him from."

The 'joke' in my family is that I never had a rebellious stage, according to them I always walked the straight and narrow. In retrospect, even in my attempts at rebellion, I was restrained by the Holy Spirit. I laugh (now) at how I sought to be "a little bad" and how I felt so convicted and violated when my college roommate smoked pot while I sat in the window to breathe the fresh air. The downside is I have carried a tonne of 'little' sins all this way all these years and boy they are stubborn!

Firstly, this is not to make excuses. Sliding is the unfortunate side effect of naiveté to the wreckful effects of sin. It is borne of the silliness that causes children to disregard the advice of parents and elders so that we can, 'make our own mistakes.' I figure when we came to faith we knew something was wrong and so we clung to the Lord and that should be enough, that should be brilliant! Rather our flesh always reminds us that we did not 'live.' Instead of freedom in Christ, we found a fence. I strive every day not to be lukewarm, to serve so that when I see the Lord he would not say to me, "I never knew you." But in this flesh, I am a slider among many things. I pray often that the Lord would save me from myself and foster in me a single-minded, non-compromising love for Him.

Why the Ents went extinct - love is us, not you and I.

Ent:
When Spring unfolds the beechen leaf, and sap is in the 
bough; 
When light is on the wild-wood stream, and wind is on 
the brow; 
When stride is long, and breath is deep, and keen the 
mountain-air, 
Come back to me! Come back to me, and say my land is 
fair! 

Entwife:
When Spring is come to garth and field, and corn is in 
the blade; 
When blossom like a shining snow is on the orchard 
laid; 
When shower and Sun upon the Earth with fragrance fill 
the air, 
I'll linger here, and will not come, because my land is 
fair. 

Ent:
When Summer lies upon the world, and in a noon of gold 
Beneath the roof of sleeping leaves the dreams of trees 
unfold; 
When woodland halls are green and cool, and wind is in 
the West, 
Come back to me! Come back to me, and say my land is 
best!

Entwife: 
When Summer warms the hanging fruit and burns the berry 
When Straw is gold, and ear is white, and harvest 
comest to town; 
When honey spills, and apple swells, though wind be in 
the West, 
I'll linger here beneath the Sun, because my land is 
best! 

Ent:
When Winter comes, the winter wild that hill and wood 
shall slay; 
When trees shall fall and starless night devour the 
sunless day; 
When wind is in the deadly East, then in the bitter 
rain 
I'll look for thee, and call to thee; I'll come to thee 
again!

Entwife:
When Winter comes, and singing ends; when darkness 
falls at last; 
When broken is the barren bough, and light and labour 
past; 
I'll look for thee, and wait for thee, until we meet 
again: 
Together we will take the road beneath the bitter rain! 

Both: 
Together we will take the road that leads into the 
West, 
And far away will find a land where both our hearts may 
rest.

JRR Tolkien, The Two Towers

They, like many of us, did not make it to the last three stanzas.

An attempt at return

I am convinced everything in my life should be labeled 'an attempt.' Here are a few examples:

• I am trying and often failing to be good - a good husband, employee, brother, friend, minister, etc.
• I started a blog yonks ago and I consistently forget it and return to it.
• So much is in fits, start-stop-forget-restart, do you remember the time I did interval training one day in a row? How about nightly devotions?

In speaking to and observing other people, most have a few things they do consistently. My wife is consistent with tardiness and brushing her teeth before bedtime. My brother is consistent at The Box. I have co-workers who are consistently early to come in, church members who are consistent in their seat location. The rest of our lives, however, is all an attempt at something we attain for a moment. It reminds me of learning to ride a bicycle. For most of us remember saying, "Look I am doing it, I am riding a...aaagh....oww!" 

It is not about seeming humble or self-deprecation. It is about accuracy in the relaying of ideas.