CAN WE BE HONEST?

As a pastor I have the honor of seeking to encourage and equip believers by the weekly preaching of the gospel. One of my prayers each Sunday is that the Lord would increase our love for Him because the world, struggles and circumstances all seek to make our love like ice. We all know this battle.

But, having said that, can we be honest? Honesty is tough but honesty is pure because it removes all manner of excuses that mask eternity. What I have found in speaking to others and knowing their lives - even my own life - is this:

Too often our love for Jesus wanes, not directly because of the world, circumstances and

struggles, but because our adoration of Him is not as strong as our difficulties.

It is not that Christians do not love the Lord. If you have been saved by the undeserving and unmerited grace of Jesus you have tasted infinite love and, having tasted His love, you love Him back. It's really the only response that I can give because I feel like Stephanie Mills when she sang, "I never knew love like this before"!

Yet, here is why so many of us stumble; here is why some of us retreat from the Lord when difficulties arise: our love and adoration of the Lord is not strong enough to fight against life's difficulties. We often give may reasons for bailing on Jesus but, in truth, the single reason is that the Christ we currently see is not bigger than the problems we face. We do not fight through, not because Christ is not big (He is gloriously enough) but, because to us, at that moment, He is not. Can we be honest?

What I have found in pastoring others and in my own life is that the issue of fighting is often misunderstood. Fighting, by definition, is tough because it is, well, fighting. None of us are like Mike Tyson in his early years when he not only whipped everyone but, get this, he never watched the tape on any of his opponents! That's different! He was different. We, however, are more like Mike Tyson post Buster Douglass! That Tyson won and lost. In his early days the question was always, “How long would his opponent last”? Later, it became "I wonder who will win this fight"? That last question is the one the angles ask about us each day!

Every day we battle but the outcome of our personal victory is not certain. Yes, our eternal victory is certain, but my February 2nd, 2021 victories are not. Here is what we get wrong. We are waiting to “want” to fight; to feel or to be motivated to fight as if this will ever happen. Motivation is a Myth! If I wait until I am motivated or feel like reading the Word, praying, going to church, give to the Lord, etc., more times than not I will not. Not because I do not think these to be important but, in truth, none of those actions are natural wants. To love and serve the Lord deeply opposes everything that is natural in and to me.

If you wait to want to fight you will always be losing the fight. Spiritual fighting does not need to be a motivation it needs to be a discipline. Mike Tyson won in the early days by brute strength alone. He was not the most skilled nor the most disciplined fighter. He was strong, mean, mad and just plain scary! What he learned to do by his loss in the ring was to become more disciplined out of the ring. The same is true for us. We cannot and will not win the fight against the desire to skip church, push aside the Word, neglect prayer, shun giving, etc., until we discipline our passions to fight even when we don't "feel" like it.

I am not saying that there should or will never be a desire or want for the things of the Lord. There will and there must be a desire for Jesus. However, unlike Aaron Burr who, in Hamilton, said "I'm willing to wait for it" the believer must do something more than wait. If you have ever wondered why it is that you could not / cannot seem to get out of a spiritual slump here is the answer: you were willing only to wait for the desire rather than discipline yourself to work while you wait. That is the key: learn to fight when you don't want to until you want to.

What brings about that desire to fight in this disciplined way? Adoration and love for Jesus. If we are honest, the reason why we are not growing as we should or experiencing the Lord in transformative ways is not simply because it is difficult. Can we be honest? The real reason is that our adoration of Him is not as strong as our difficulties because of our lack of discipline in the Word (hearing from Him), prayer (seeking His power and through us) and fellowship (being encouraged by the saints).

These three disciplines – Word, prayer and fellowship – are the means by which love and adoration for Jesus grows and fuels the flame of unbounded and unflinching fight.