Reluctant Retiree

Several months ago we went to Nashville to help people clear debris after a tornado ravaged the area. Qualified people cut down and cut up trees and other damaged items. Since I am not qualified to use a chainsaw, my job was to carry debris to the street to be picked up by city equipment. Our work helped people move to the next step of recovery.

As they were cutting the trees, several different levels of power were required to take the tree limbs and trunks to the street. Most limbs could be hand carried. Some larger pieces we had to put in wheelbarrows to transport. And still larger or more awkward pieces required a skip loader be used to move them.

All of us face struggles from time to time. Sometimes we can move forward on our own, though we may wish that we hadn’t tried to do so later. Other times we find some kind people to help us. And yet there are times when even the help of friends and family is not enough. We simply cannot find the strength to deal with our situation.

Colossians 1:11 speaks to those situations when it says, “May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy.” The power we need in these situations is the mighty power of God. His power is unlimited and always available to those who will put their trust in Him.

Struggles can teach us peace, patience, and endurance. Peace to trust God to work within our struggle. Patience to believe that He knows our troubles, and is working through the struggle for good. And endurance to follow Him through the struggles to the other side.

Governments make peace treaties with other governments all the time. These treaties bind both governments to certain actions and to keeping the peace with each other. Despite these mutually binding agreements, governments break these agreements often, returning to the state of hostility and tension between the parties.

Governments aren’t the only parties breaking agreements. Businesses unilaterally break contracts for more profitable opportunities. Athletes and professional sports teams break contracts to seek better accommodations. Spouses set aside the marriage contract for emotional and physical allures. People cut off long-term relationships over disputes and changing priorities.

When we are born into the human race, we inherit many traits and characteristics. One of those attributes is our sin nature, simply rejecting God ways to go our own way. Because we are in rebellion against God, we are His enemies by our choice and our nature.

The good news is that God has provided the means by which we can be reconciled with Him. Colossians 1:19-20 says, “For in him the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of the cross.”

We are unable to reconcile ourselves to God by any amount of goodwill or good works. Instead God initiated the reconciliation by giving His own Son as a sacrifice. As the verse says, He reconciled us to Him through Himself, providing the means and the agreement for peace. All that remains is for you and I to sign the reconciliation agreement by trusting in Jesus as our reconciliation.

When we speak about the attributes of people, we are referring to characteristics that they possess and have displayed. For instance, we may say that “she has a lot of patience”, because we have observed her in pressure situations. Or we may say that “he has a lot of love for his family “, because we have watched him in family surroundings. But we may also say that someone has anger issues, because we have seen them explode on occasion. It is fairly easy for us to separate a person from their attributes.

With God, we should not so easily separate His attributes apart from who He is. Lamentations 3:22-23 says, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” Every morning, when we wake up, we can expect God to give us new mercies and steadfast love. The mercies are not new because He whipped up a new batch of mercy overnight. They are new because we need different kinds of mercy every day, for the new struggles and troubles we will go through each day. These mercies are not something that He possesses, they are, in fact, who He is. God is love. God is mercy. And God is faithful. These attributes, and many others, are who He is, not characteristics He possesses. He has always been love and mercy, and will always be love and mercy, because He is always faithful to His nature.

Every field of endeavor has its big names and beyond that, its superstars with whom no one compares. We have recognizable names in the entertainment area, but we have people declared to be the Queen of Soul and the King of Pop. In sports we have stars of the games, but we also have the Hall of Famers. We have government rulers and Emperors, Kings, Premieres and Presidents. In religion there are the common saints and the revered Saints.

While it is mostly harmless to grant these honors to people, we are in danger when we exalt them to some lofty status. How many times have we seen some superstar or honored person taken down by some ethical or moral failures? We should not place our trust in them or seek to copy their lifestyle.

The Bible declares that Jesus is worthy of honor and worship. It declares further that we should indeed conform to His image. Philippians 2:9-10 says, “Therefore God highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Every one of us will bow at the name of Jesus. We can worship now as a choice of our wills, and from an expression of gratitude. Or we will recognize Him as Lord one day out of regret and fear, to spend eternity apart from Him.

We went to watch our grandson wrestle for his high school this morning. Wrestling is a hard sport for me to watch. As each match progresses, I find myself bending and contorting myself along with the athletes, urging them to move in different ways. By the end of the match I am also tired, like I was the one who wrestled.

Wrestling is a short, but intense struggle against an opponent. The grimaces on these athletes’ faces tell the story of pain and determination. They give all that they have to win the battle.

I wonder if the apostle Paul had wrestling as a backdrop when he wrote: “Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or faint-hearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.”

Jesus wrestled against sinners continually until He was finally crucified. Unlike the sport of wrestling, the struggle never paused or stopped. We also wrestle against sin and our struggle will not end this side of heaven. The only way that we can win our daily battle against sin is to trust in the one who has already won the struggle, Jesus Christ. Determination alone will not succeed. We are too weak and the fight is too long.

We need the power of God to overcome. We have to choose to trust Jesus every day, every moment, to work within us to give us victory over sin. He is undefeated and will never fail.