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- Written by: Don Goulding
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. (Ephesians 4:2-3) (NIV)
In the Winnie the Pooh story by A. A. Milne, Rabbit suggests they cure Tigger of his bouncing by losing him in the woods overnight.
“Oh, we'll find him again next morning, and mark my words, he'll be a humble Tigger, a sad and small Tigger, an ‘Oh, Rabbit, am I glad to see you’ Tigger. And it'll take the bounces out of him, that's what!”
The misguided plan backfires and it’s Rabbit himself who gets lost. His friends rescue him and he comes out of the long night humbled from his pride.
When it comes to nonessential doctrines, I feel like Rabbit. I used to be confident of my beliefs and critical of those who differed. I reveled in debates to prove my points but what came out of my mouth was often intended to make me win rather than magnify Jesus.
Students of theology are soon faced with a bramble of opinions and the thorny disagreements that have plagued church history. They learn how wholly inadequate human speech is for heavenly truths and feel the prickliness of wordy debates. They realize navigation by human intellect without direction from the Holy Spirit leaves us thrashing in circles far removed from God’s path.
It’s time to stop pretending I or any human can fully elucidate subjects like predestination or eschatology. I must admit I’m Rabbit, lost in the dark woods, afraid and confused. I can’t get myself free of the tangle of nonessential doctrines.
From outside the forest I hear voices. Jesus and my truest friends are searching for me. They’re calling me out of the maelstrom. I no longer have to systematize biblical conundrums. I need only follow the voice of Jesus, return to his simple gospel, and let him bring me past the doctrinal thickets into the full light of grace.
I went into the bramble of secondary doctrines with an attitude of “I have answers that will unbounce others.” I’m coming out of those same woods a broken Rabbit, an “Oh, Jesus, am I glad to see you” Rabbit.
Prayer: King Jesus, may humility close my mouth except to glorify you.
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- Written by: Don Goulding
Jerusalem will no longer be enclosed by walls because of the multitude of people and animals there. But I (the Lord says) will be a wall of fire surrounding Jerusalem and the source of glory in her midst. (Zechariah 2:4-5)
“Brr, swoosh,” a big-eyed, brown skinned boy glided a shard of mirror through the air at his orphanage in Tijuana, Mexico. I watched from a distance to avoid bursting his imaginary world. A fragment of glass isn’t a safe plaything and I considered taking the shard away. I couldn’t confiscate his toy without deflating an entire universe of souls desperate for rescue by the heroic Shard of Mirror.
In my own life, I can pick up one shard of life’s brokenness and build an entire universe of delusions around it. A big part of my make-believe world is the wall that surrounds my heart. I imagine bricks of acceptance mortared with ample finances will save me from deadly missiles. I get so caught up in adding defenses that I’m not even aware demons are handing them to me.
The higher my wall rises, they more necessary it becomes in my mind. My wall makes perfect sense to me. Your wall is the one I question. I don’t understand your preoccupations and you think my worries are silly.
“Wake up,” Jesus says. “You don’t need your pretend defenses because you have me.”
He’s right. While some of my fears are from real threats, my defenses are as imaginary as the orphan child’s fantasies. Jesus is the only true wall around me. He alone saves me from my sin guilt. He is the one shield that prevents the missiles of life from ever touching my eternal soul. Wherever I go and whatever happens, Jesus my Sovereign King is there ensuring I have everything I need to honor God in the moment. He will never leave me or forsake me—his words.
I have a wall of fire protecting me and his name is Jesus.
Prayer: Mighty Defender, take down my ridiculous walls so I’ll depend on you.
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- Written by: Don Goulding
But David replied to the Philistine [Goliath], “You are coming against me with sword and spear and javelin. But I am coming against you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel’s armies, whom you have defied! (1 Samuel 17:45)
Young, ruddy David ran to the battle camp with food for his brothers. Was he thinking, I will carve my name in history today by cutting off the head of Goliath? No, he was delivering cheese and dodging his bossy siblings while trying to get the lowdown on the foulmouthed, nine foot tall Philistine.
David had no delusions of grandeur as King Saul tried to fit him out with armor. He was a boy who watched sheep. But why would God deliver him from bears and lions when he fought for his sheep and not from this overlarge man who slandered the one true Jehovah? David was merely slinging stones and trusting God’s greatness like he always had.
None of us can plan to be a hero. I can’t conspire to write my own tombstone epitaph about greatness. That would only bring false acclaim from an expiring world. True greatness comes not of commanding leadership or financial success but from the strength of my dependance on Jesus. In the eternal landscape, humble faith eclipses every temporal accomplishment.
If Superman with his repertoire of heroic rescues was to trust Jesus as Savior, only then he would he understand greatness. The same is true for each of us. We all have to face the kryptonite of our dark side which leaves no one who is truly great except for Jesus Christ. The rest of us find grandeur by following him, so childlike faith wins the day.
David’s greatness was not in his skill or his cunning but in his trust of God. No one else in Israel’s army had the boyish faith of David. God turned that humble confidence into a giant victory over a giant man, and his economy works exactly the same today.
Prayer: Lord Christ, living hand in hand with you brings greatness.