He Thought I Was Lazy!

Suggested Reading: Hebrews 5:11-6:3

Before I graduated from high school I had taken five years of Spanish, starting in 8th grade and then every year through my senior year. Toward the end of my senior year, I was in the Spanish club and one day I stopped in the class to grab something . It was after school and I was the only student in the room. My teacher, Señor Nisttahauz, stopped me and began to chew me out. He began to jump all over me because, as far as he was concerned I was lazy. In his eyes, I understood the language, knew the syntax and the grammar, had a firm grasp of the vocabulary, but I was lost in a conversation. Señor Nisttahauz believed that, with everything I knew, I should be fluent and the only reason I wasn't was because I never practiced speaking Spanish outside the classroom. I knew enough to pass my tests (ace my tests) but he was convinced that if I didn't start practicing, I would be one of those parents who showed up at an open house with their own child saying, "Yeah, I took Spanish in high school and I don't remember a word of it." He rightfully berated me for my lack of practice beyond the classroom. Soon afterward, I began practicing outside of class and my Spanish fluency improved greatly.

In many ways, the Christian walk is like learning a new language. Learning the appropriate words and actions is one thing; actually practicing and understanding them is something else entirely. The author of Hebrews expressed frustration over this particular problem, saying to his readers, "We have a great deal to say about this, and it's difficult to explain, since you have become too lazy to understand . Although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the basic principles of God's revelation again. You need milk, not solid food. Now everyone who lives on milk is inexperienced with the message about righteousness…" (Hebrews 5:11-13, HCSB). Essentially, the author argues, "You've been at the Christian life for too long to be at the level you are. You are inexperienced and lazy, so you can't handle the tougher things that a person in your position should."

Because of the sin that lives in us and the fact that our natures have been corrupted, many of the teachings of the Word of God run against the grain of our natures and are difficult, if not impossible, to understand until we begin practicing them. We may "know" the teachings in much the same way that I "knew" Spanish in high school, but until we start practicing it, until we start using what we know, we will never really understand the Word of God, and we will never mature as believers. Jesus told his listeners that the way to know whether his teachings were really from God or not was to make a decision to do the will of God and not simply know it (John 7:17).

Has your understanding of the Word of God stalled in its growth? Have you come to a place where you don't understand as much as you think you should, where things don't make sense like you want them to? Maybe, you need to try putting what you know into practice, not just being satisfied with possessing morsels of knowledge.  You'll never be fluent until you start practicing. 

Suffering from Spiritual Second Night Syndrome

Suggested Reading: 1 Kings 18:36-19:10

I did a lot of theater in high school. I did everything from lead roles to being an understudy to working backstage helping with sets and props. Most of the plays that we did would run for three nights, typically a Thursday through Saturday. On the second night, we would always warn each other beforehand not to take it easy, especially if we did well on opening night. See, there was this thing we called "Second-Night-Syndrome" where, if we did really well the first night, we would let our guard down and then do horribly the second night. If opening night was bad, we typically didn't have to worry about Second-Night-Syndrome because we were already focused on not screwing up again.

A similar dynamic exists in our Christian walks. When things have been going really well, when we have been growing, and especially when we have had some major victory in our lives, those moments contain the greatest potential for disaster because we let our guard down or because we have experienced such a spiritual high that anything less than such stellar victory leads us into depression. There are two prominent examples of this in scripture.

We find the first example in 1 Kings 19. The prophet Elijah has just had a severe spiritual high.  Elijah had defeated the prophets of Baal in a duel by calling fire down from the heavens to consume a sacrifice and the people had turned back to the Lord. Then Elijah succeeded in praying a multiple-year drought to its end. Even the evil king Ahab seemed to give Elijah a break for once. But when Queen Jezebel found out what Elijah had done she threatened Elijah and he literally ran for the hills and found himself in a depression so deep that he prayed for God to end his life, saying, "I've had enough, Lord. Take my life. I am no better than my ancestors" (1 Kings 19:4, HCSB).

The second example stands out as the single biggest mistake of King David's career. David had finally ascended to the throne, becoming king over the entire nation of Israel. David had succeeded in bringing the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem, subduing his enemies, and receiving a promise from God that David's dynasty would last forever. Finally, a time arrives when David feels that he can let his guard down and rest for a while. So, "In the spring, at that time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king's men and the whole Israelite army" (2 Samuel 11:1, HCSB). Instead of leading his men in battle, like he should, David decided he deserved to loosen up and let his guard down. As soon as David let his guard down, he saw Bathsheba and got caught up in an affair that would bring trouble to his family for years to come.

Very often, the most dangerous times for us are not those times when things are going badly and we have to work for everything we get. The most dangerous times are when we have had great success in our lives and we let our guard down. The secret to righteous living is not to seek out the great victories, but to walk consistently day by day, whether in victory or in hardship. If you have had a great victory in your life, be careful not to let your guard down or to begin to believe that you have finally gotten everything together. The moment you do, you will find yourself falling very hard and very fast. Instead, whatever victory you have achieved in your life, thank God for his grace in granting you that victory and then seek to be consistent in your walk.

The greatest opportunities for us to fall lie in the shadow of our greatest victories. Seek God's grace in victory as much as in the battles of everyday life.