Pastoral Connection: You Make Me Brave

June 23, 202

“The only way we will endure the continuous attacking waves of life is by leaning on the gospel message and walking with others who do as well.”

Have you ever walked in the sea? It feels safe on the sand by the water. Then you got daring and wandered further out, deeper than you expected. Everything seems good except a particular wave had been watching, waiting for the right moment. Suddenly, like a wilderness predator, the wave pounces and knocks you to your backside!

No harm done; after all God padded you there for that reason. You go to stand up and find your dignity, but that’s when you realize this wave had friends, lots of friends. A veritable army of evil water demons whose sole purpose is to keep you on your backside come one after the other.

The only way you survive is by taking hold of the hand that reaches down and helps you to your feet. Your companion – now your best friend for life – holds you as you catch your balance, and the two of you make your way to the shore.

We can be attacked by various trials and tribulations in the same way. Health issues can lead to absences from work. Greater worries over doctor visits and test results develop such concern that you simply don’t have the energy to meet with your small group or even attend church this week. Besides, how are you going to put money in the collection plate when you don’t even know how you’re going to pay your bills because you’ve missed so many shifts at work. Sometimes trials come in the form of a direct attack on our faith in different arenas of our culture.  How we respond has a direct impact on the integrity of the message of the Gospel.

This is one example of how our spiritual enemy attacks us. Once we made the Lord our Lord, we were protected and now no force and separate us from God. The enemy has lost us forever and he knows all he can do is trip us up, preventing us from being effective for the kingdom. That’s where the waves come and that’s where we must keep our heads. If we allow ourselves to become distracted from the power of the Gospel reflected through us, we hinder our spiritual growth, the spiritual growth of others, and the privilege of leading future believers to the Lord.

Dive Deeper

Romans 8:35 “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?”

2 Cor. 4:8-12, ⁸ We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; ⁹ persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.¹⁰ We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. ¹¹ For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. ¹² So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

1 Peter 4:12-16, ¹² Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.¹³ But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. ¹⁴ If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. ¹⁵ If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. ¹⁶ However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name.

Practical Application

We are called to keep studying God’s Word as many truths are revealed to use when we search them out. Learn those truths, apply them to your life, and share them with others.

Also, make every effort to prevent yourself from trying to do this life alone. We know this life is temporary and that our Lord looks at our existence in the whole, including after Heaven and Earth are restored. However, we are not meant to walk alone in this world, we need one another to help us see our trials through the perspective of the Gospel.  That’s what will give us the strength to ride the waves that come our way.