Men As Christ
Where Iron Sharpens Iron / Proverbs 27:17
Get Back Up
Luke 12:35-40
Jesus said to his disciples: “Gird your loins and light your lamps and be like servants who await their master’s return from a wedding, ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival. Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself, have the servants recline at table, and proceed to wait on them. And should he come in the second or third watch and find them prepared in this way, blessed are those servants. Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour when the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”
Blog:
You may have heard the phrase, “practice makes perfect”. The tedious, repetitious nature of practicing “anything” can be enough to defeat many before they even begin. Running miles and miles, studying for hours and hours, performing for days on end, working for years and years… But, it’s in the moments of sweating, anguish, fatigue, etc. that we begin to build perseverance beyond the suffering. And, that perseverance builds character which eventually leads to Hope (Romans 5:3-5). It’s in the practicing that we prepare for the big game, test, show, job, or any other responsibility – it’s how we build towards being Ready. In reality, you can never practice enough to be perfect. Even a “perfect game” in baseball isn’t really perfect; the pitcher who throws a “perfect game” will have thrown countless balls and strikes and will not have performed perfectly. But, in preparing the best that we can and then leaving the results up to God, we surrender to Him. The only thing that we can control in this life is ourselves and that, in and of itself, is a major challenge. We are to train our hardest knowing that we will never arrive Fully this side of Heaven. And, the Good News, is that God knows that we can never be Perfect like His Son. Like a Proud Father, He is happy to see us try; even when we fail. St. Peter failed Jesus three (3) times on the night of Jesus’ mockery of a trial, but God still built His Church on Peter knowing that “The Rock” would still keep trying. St. Peter got knocked down, but he got back up. We’ll all get knocked down in this world, but we can all get back up and overcome our challenges. So, let’s prepare the best that we can as we journey through suffering on to perseverance on to character and, finally, arriving at Hope. God will help us to endure, He only asks that we keep getting back up again and again and again and…
Men As Christ 