Month: October 2012

As my Dad and I sit down the other night to watch Game 5 of the NLCS between the Giants and Cardinals, we started watching a couple innings into the game so we had to rely on the announcers to catch us up to speed on what had happened so far.

With three scoreless innings squared away, the announcers, Joe Buck and Tim McCarver, provided a comparison between the two starting pitchers: Lance Lynn for the Cardinals and Barry Zito for the Giants. Lynn had posted 5 strikeouts, 1 walk and was working a no-hitter through the first three innings; Zito on the other hand had allowed several runners on base all of which threatening to score but somehow was able to work his way out of those tough situations.

Buck and McCarver were praising the performance Lance Lynn was putting on describing it as the potential to be his greatest start of the season, whereas Barry Zito could very quickly find himself being taken out early in the game. With all this having happened and being said, Lance Lynn goes on to give up 4 runs in the 4th inning and finds himself sitting on the bench as his manager felt like he had nothing else to contribute to the game.

Fast-forward to the 8th inning. Barry Zito is still pitching. The score is still 4-0. Joe Buck and Tim McCarver are now talking about how they can’t believe they are witnessing this phenomenal display put on by Zito. There is a total and complete change in perspective when comparing these two pitchers. One started off hot but quickly faded away while the other started off slower and a bit shaky but got stronger as he went along.

As the familiar saying goes, it’s not about how you start, but how you finish (or slow and steady wins the race if you happen to be thinking of the tortoise and the hare).

Our dear friend Paul in the Bible had one of those shaky starts. Real shaky if you think about it. When he went around and was referred to as Saul, he had made a reputation for himself. He was known for persecuting and executing Christians. The very mention of his name struck fear in the heart of many Christians because of the thought of what he had done and was able to those who claimed and proclaimed the gospel of Christ. But as he was on his way to persecute the Christian leaders in Damascus, the Lord spoke to him from heaven and Saul was led to Ananias who was able to pray for Saul during his conversion. As Saul began to then minister in the very synagogues he intended to persecute, he was met with fear and doubt from the believers there. They didn’t trust that Saul had come to Christ, but thought that this might be a trap by making them think he was one of them. But after being affirmed by Barnabas, the believers began to trust Saul and worked with him to strengthen the churches and body of believers.

I can almost hear the announcers describing Saul’s life from the beginning:

“Well folks, today’s starter has some gritty, nasty and absolutely despicable stuff up his sleeve. Going up against the Jerusalem Believers, the Freedmen and Cyrenians send out Saul of Tarsus, one of the most feared men throughout the Christians in all of Jerusalem.”

“After Saul’s last appearance on the mound, we saw him finish the game by executing Stephen, one of Jerusalem’s star players. Next week Saul is scheduled to matchup against the Damascus Synagogue.”

“A surprising turn of events, Saul experiences a life changing move by joining the Damascus Synagogue. It will be interesting to see how this plays out and how well he works with his new team. If you remember just recently Saul flexed his muscle by executing Stephen in his last performance.”

“It is just unbelievable the change you see in Saul’s performance. Not only is he getting along with his teammates, but they are working together to form one of the most unstoppable teams in the game. Saul has officially changed his name to Paul to avoid any confusion with the player he used to be. Folks, this guy is turning into one of the greatest players I have ever seen. What a performance by the Apostle Paul.”

Many times in a Christian’s life, one can get discouraged by one’s “performance” as a Christian. We experience some shaky situations that test the faith and hope that we have come to trust in and rely upon. Or we have started with such enthusiasm that we quickly burn out because we get discouraged by the lack of tangible results or others excitement. The author of Hebrews describes the Christian walk as a race which we all run, “…let us all run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith” (Heb 12:1-2). In reference to running a race, the author of Ecclesiastes adds his wisdom by saying, “The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong…” (Eccl 9:11). A major key in the Christian’s life is to rely on Christ to be our strength and the one who makes all things new. We shouldn’t allow our past to dictate our future because in our life with Christ, the old has passed away and the new has come (2 Cor 5:17).

So how do we go the distance after having a rough first couple of innings in our walk with Christ? By not letting our past define the outcome of our future and by relying on Christ to be our source of strength enabling us to go the distance.

The discipling of any follower of Christ remains incomplete without learning the art of friendship. We don’t think of it as a traditional spiritual discipline, but the formation of our lives into the image of Christ must include a maturity of learning to be a friend. So, where do we begin to understand friendship as a Biblical or spiritual concept? Grasp this lesson from Proverbs 17.17.

A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. Proverbs 17.17

Being a friend is both personal and deliberate. Friendship in many ways resembles the characteristics of a close brother. During the most critical junctures of life, we can count on the support of brothers and friends. They can be counted upon during seasons of adversity and difficulty, but the REAL lesson is in the differences between the two. A brother is born for adversity. A close brother remains steadfastly by your side – trusting, helping, hoping, encouraging – during difficult seasons of life. And sometimes it takes adversity to discover how close we really are to our families.

My brother and I were 4 1/2 years apart. I was the older and, therefore, entitled to practice pro wrestling moves on him that I had seen on TV. However, something happened after school on his 2nd day of kindergarten, My brother was hit by a car when he chased a ball out in to the street in front of our house. I’ll never forget hearing the thud of his body being struck, my mother’s scream, or the first sight of my unconscious little brother lying lifeless in the street. My father dropped to his knees beside my brother breathing a frantic and desperate prayer: “God, heal my child!” It was the sound of my brother’s subsequent tears that gave evidence to a miracle in that street. (34 years later, my brother and his wife have further evidence of that miracle in their 4 children).

He spent several days in the hospital in traction and came home in a cast from his hips to his thigh on one leg and his entire foot on the other and remained in it for several weeks. We shared a bedroom and almost each night, I thought about how vulnerable he seemed. My 10 year old heart and mind would fear that something could happen to him in the night and often, I would often crawl out of bed to either kneel at his bed or my own and, with tears, pray for God to protect my little brother. A brother is born for adversity and, all wrestling moves aside, I felt in that moment that I was born for prayer.

That brings us to the contrast, which helps us appreciate the love of a genuine friend. A brother is born for adversity, but a friend loves at all times. Family bonds are at visibly at their strongest when a member goes through difficulty, but a friend loves voluntarily. A friend loves at all times. And that voluntary love can prove even stronger than familial or brotherly love.

A biblical friend is also consistently loyal. A friend loves at all times. That means that a follower of Christ does not settle for being friendly, but, looks to build friendships. Friendship is a rare treasure, not easily cultivated or found. It takes consistency and loyalty and devotion and time and inconvenience. And Proverbs elevates the loyalty built with trusted friends as an unforgettable lesson.

Being a friend first has everything to do with the kind of person that YOU decide to be. It means that we’re not looking into the life of someone else to find something that might be worthy of us showing ourselves friendly. When we choose to be loving and accepting and forgiving; we choose to be friends toward others because of WHO WE ARE.

History remembers their works as classics and their relationship as The Inklings, a group of novelists and authors associated with The University of Oxford. CS Lewis, JRR Tolkien, Charles Williams were not only renowned authors, but friends, who often shared a table together at The Eagle and The Child or The Lamb and the Flag as meeting places for great conversations. Charles William preceded both CS Lewis and Tolkien in his untimely death. After Williams’ death, Lewis remarked that his relationship with Tolkien would not be the same simply because neither could both men know one another in an active friendship with Williams. Lewis knew Tolkien, not merely through Tolkien, but through William’s friendship with Tolkien. Likewise. Tolkien knew Lewis, not simply through Lewis, but in the friendship Charles shared with Lewis. And perhaps that experience laid beneath Lewis’ reflection on the value of friendship in the following quote:

Friendship exhibits a glorious “nearness by resemblance” to Heaven itself where the very multitude of the blessed, which no man can number, increases the fruition which each has of God. For every soul, seeing Him in her own way, doubtless communicates that unique vision to all the rest. That, says an old author, is why the Seraphim in Isaiah’s vision are crying “Holy, Holy, Holy” to one another. The more we thus share the Heavenly Bread between us, the more we shall all have. – CS Lewis, Four Loves

I think The Apostle Paul understood this in his words through the widely circulated letter to the Ephesus church:

…addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. Ephesians 5.19–21

Perhaps my connectedness to the local body of Christ adds that same value to my worship. I learn of Christ as I learn of Him in others. The “Heavenly Bread” we share nourishes my soul with a renewed wonder of His attributes and His activity. And in my willing connection to others, I ask a personal question of myself, “What shall they learn of Christ through me?”