I was privileged to grow up in a Christian family. By the time I was born, my father and mother had become believers; and my mother was determined to have all of her children go to heaven. Her approach was to remind us almost daily of the need to accept Jesus Christ as our Savior; because we didn’t know when He would come back to get His own. As a result, I accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior at a young age; mostly because I feared being left behind.
Many years have passed since that day. Although my salvation was instantaneous, learning how to let Jesus Christ be my Lord was a slow and revealing process that evolves even now in my life. In fact, I have every reason to believe that it will evolve until the day I go home to be with Him. That’s because more than just knowledge is involved. The will is also involved. And when the will is included, lordship becomes an amazingly unique and personalized journey for every individual.
As I look back over my journey, I remember the ups and downs, successes and disappointments, exuberance and depression, revelations and bewilderments, and many other experiences and relationships that occurred along the way. I also remember many distractions and diversions that kept me from getting closer to the Lord, and on one or two occasions caused me to question the worth of it all.
Living in the world, there are many interesting influences and situations that can shake the foundation of our Christian beliefs and have in many cases turned people away from God. So, I acknowledge that I was shaken often over the years. But I am thankful that I was not stirred away from my basic belief in God and the reliability of His word. I continue my journey to improve and strengthen my relationship with Him through the application of His word in my life.
Describing my journey as “shaken not stirred” came to me as a result of watching several James Bond movies. I do not praise his lifestyle as portrayed in the movies. However, his calm demeanor in the midst of incredible odds as he narrowly escapes one dangerous situation after another intrigues me. It’s intriguing because life in general can be stressful. Sibling rivalries, marriage, kids, career success or failure, and whatever else we have going on can be stressful at times. The stress can shake us up enough to stir us off our path and lead us to give up. So even though my stressful circumstances have not been life threatening, as they are for James Bond, I like to think that when I am shaken up I will not be stirred away from my journey with the Lord, with my family, and with other relationships that are important to me.
I began to consider a series of Bible passages that describe a shaken not stirred attitude, and to write down my thoughts. Initially, it was just a personal study. But at a men’s retreat years ago our pastor said, “No man's life is a waste. You can always be used as a bad example.” We all laughed at the time, but it impressed me as a powerful thought. As part of considering what a good example should be, I decided that a good start would be for me to share my thoughts with others and trust in the Lord to encourage them to get closer to Him.
Comentários