my contentment and the backdrop
Even though I can say that I've been around the block a few times, I'm always amazed at how much more God has to teach me. Like this, for instance.
Without the stability of the right backdrop, contentment can tend to be a fleeting thing. I've never really heard comparison mentioned as a cardinal sin, but comparison is the very thing that always, invariably, leads us down the road to envy, sinful desire, depression, and so many other self-focused stumbling blocks. In Hebrews 12:1b and 2a, the author invites us to throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles.He encourages us to run with perseverance the race marked out for us and to fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. These are powerful words, but sometimes hard words to swallow.
Now I'm definitely not a runner, but the best runners are focused on the finish line, not on their competition. A sport I can talk about is football, and Dallas Cowboy fans will instantly recall the moment in Super Bowl XXVII when Leon Lett had intercepted a pass and was sprinting for the goal line. He started to celebrate at about the 5-yard-line and had the ball knocked from his hands before he could score. The Cowboys were already trouncing the Buffalo Bills, but Lett's chance at a Super Bowl touchdown and the Cowboy's opportunity to set a record for points scored in a Super Bowl evaporated into thin air. Now, at first glance, you may say if Leon was paying attention to the players around him, this wouldn't have happened. The replay, however, shows that if he had just continued at full speed and focused on the goal line, he would have scored easily. Instead, he briefly lost focus of the ultimate goal.
Of course, that example leads to the biblical story that illustrates this best of all. The other night, I was reading from our kid's bible to my five-year old. After reading the story of Jesus and Peter walking on the water, she asked (in a pretty dubious tone), "Did that really happen?" I can't help but see myself in the role of Peter. As a family, we're in some storms as I write this, and moment by moment the temptation looms to focus on the wind and the waves.
But these are only the backdrop.
Contentment...true contentment, can only be determined by the backdrop. In most major league ballparks, center field bleachers are used only in cases of overflow crowds, or there are no seats in dead center at all. Why? So that the batters can see the baseball coming toward them, sometimes at speeds at or above 100 MPH. If the backdrop isn't a solid color, but instead a constantly changing sea of motion, picking out the baseball becomes a tough chore.You see, if we refuse or fail to see God's hand loving us and holding us in the midst of trouble, we fail to see the true backdrop of life. We fail to see the bigger picture of God at work. Don't get me wrong, this is an ongoing process of discipline that allows us to see the bigger picture. But it is a must if we are going to experience all the resources God places before us on a daily basis.
As I have often told people who serve in my ministries, don't let Satan steal from you the joy of your salvation. There is little that can be taken from us once we are His, but stealing our God-given joy is one of his favorites. And one of the few ways this door is opened is when we don't see Christ within the backdrop of all that we are and all that we hope to be.
So celebrate the backdrop. Especially on rough days. Circumstances may change, but the backdrop never does. He is a most excellent backdrop.