Who will win the Tug of War?

Slow Demolition versus the Renewal God Offers

In my last post I talked about the star over Upland.  It was fun to reminisce, looking backward and looking up. And it struck a chord for me and many of you. It is pretty cool when you can see the good that happened. The post before that was certainly different. It was about demolishing and renewing. I’ve still been thinking about that. So here it is chapter 2 of demolishing and renewing. Not looking backward, not looking up, but looking inward.

Whether you are remodeling a kitchen or rebuilding a burned down house, the analogy of demolishing and renewing syncs well when you’re dealing with a stroke. The fast demolition that happened, and the slow renewing that is still going on.

I once took down a church that was damaged by a fire. It took one day to do the demo. One day. One day do get rid of a building that has stood for decades. All the sermons that were given, all the weddings and funerals, all the upkeep that was always happening, in one day all of that was gone. One day with an excavator and a couple dump trucks. Well, not exactly gone, nothing was gone except the building that housed those moments. As I think about it, what a powerful analogy when you’re dealing with traumatic things.  A fast demolition, with a constant, but slower, renewal.

A Slow Demolition

But it occurs to me that a slow demolition is perhaps more insidious and more brutal than a fast demolition. What happens in a blink of an eye, can happen in a couple decades. Often you don’t see it happen, and rather than responding to what is happening, you acquiesce. (Checking my vocabulary: Acquiesce means “Accept something without protest”) .  

The slow demolition of a life is the norm in our world, and It is the modus operandi of the devil. Wow, there is a lot to unpack in that sentence. I guess someone else can unpack it.

But the slow demolition of a life, is that something that we can accept without protesting? Unfortunately, we often do that, we acquiesce. Renewing is absolutely needed, maybe more needed than when you are dealing with a “fast” demolishing.  

The beauty of a stroke is it grabs your attention and it demands a response. It requires renewing. Beauty? Yeah, maybe the wrong word.

The beauty of a “normal” life is that it is comfortable. It doesn’t grab our attention, it doesn’t demand a response, and it doesn’t require renewal. Beauty? Shoot I did it again, wrong word. Living a normal life is comfortable, but it isn’t beautiful. One of the problems of the comfort we enjoy is that it often lulls us into a state where we don’t respond to what is happening around us and inside us. In our minds anyways, everything is good and renewal is optional. 

My Normal life?

I’m thinking about my normal life before my stroke. If I look back to the years before my stroke I can see the slow demolition of a man. There was a tug of war in my life.  A tug of war between the values of the world and the promises of God. As a Christian, the promises of God are powerful, and the world’s values are not very strong, well not as strong as they used to be, but man they are relentless. If you let down for a second they are there and slowly, inch by inch, we find ourselves being drug through the mud. It happens so gradually that we don’t realize what has happened. 

It took me a decade to gain 50 pounds, one pound at a time. My health wasn’t bad, but it was in decline, and my spirit was stagnant. It was hard to see, it was hard to quantify it. It seems like one day was the same as the others. But Geez, how did I end up here? One choice at a time, by succumbing to the pull of the world and by not using the renewal God offers. Here and there, just for a second I just stopped pulling the tug of war rope. How did I get here? I got here one inch at a time.  

Hmm, or maybe I’m thinking about life right now. I have a new life which is threatening to become a hoo hum normal life.  I don’t want that to happen. I’ve worked a lot on my new life. I don’t want it to be stagnant.

Don’t Slack Off

There is a theme in the bible about not slacking off. To finish strong. 

Paul talks about it. Straining forward vs. slacking off. He’s not talking about those who are struggling over a stroke. He’s talking about what happens to everyone.  

Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.   Philippians 3.12-14

One thing. Press on. That is so important. In my bible, the third chapter in Phillipians is entitled, The Goal of Life. Pressing on is mandatory, we need to press on toward the goal. If you don’t press on, the relentless draw from the world will cause us to be going backwards. To counter it, we need to press on. Otherwise we are heading toward a slow demolition.

Overcoming What Hinders Us

Even in the hard to understand book of Revelations. The idea of “Pressing on” is paramount. The book starts with seven letters to seven churches. Maybe they were to existing churches, maybe they were to types of churches, and maybe they were to churches and the various times they lived in. Yeah, a hard book to understand, but one thing is clear, that at the end of every letter everyone is told to overcome what hinders them. Seven times the word “overcome” ends the letter. The meaning is clear, we are encouraged to overcome what hinders us and we are warned to not succumb to the slow demolishing that is always there. 

Overcoming is important when you’re dealing with trauma, and it is equally important when your normal life slips a little, and then a little more. Pressing on and overcoming is the answer to the slow demolishing that is happening in our world and in our lives.

Have you noticed the slow demolition that is happening all around us? Maybe you’ve even seen it in your life? If so, there is a battle that needs to be won. For sure it is a battle I need to win. The beauty of my stroke is that it caused me to focus inwardly. I’m thankful for that. That is where the fast demolition happened, but more than that it is where the renewal is happening.

Who Will Win?

The slow demolition of a life vs the renewal that God offers. Who will win the tug of war?

Depends. With God’s help, we can win, as long as we don’t stop tugging on the rope. Overcoming what hinders us is doable, but it needs us to do it. It is up to me to finish strong.  And it is up to you as well. 

Even though my outward body is in tatters, inwardly I can see the renewal that is happening every day. So, I’m not acquiescing, but I’m pressing on to overcome the relentless pull of the world.  I will end with one of my favorite verses. And it starts with a powerful word,  therefore. For this reason…therefore… I don’t lose heart.

Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.     2Co 4:16