Little by Little

Discipline yourselves and keep alert. Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour. - 1 Peter 5.8

Of course, Peter never says that the Devil swallows us whole. 

Cuban poet Armando Valladares spent twenty-two years as a political prisoner under Fidel Castro. In his book, Against All Hope, he recounts many small but mighty triumphs of the human spirit over oppression which make survival possible. On one occasion a guard bragged that no prisoner could get anything past him. A certain Captain Morejon, hearing the boast, warned, "Why, if you're not careful, these men will drag a sack of fertilizer right in under your nose and you'll never even know it."

Game on!

The sacks in question weighed upwards of two hundred pounds, but the prisoners were determined. First, they opened one of the sacks by picking out three inches from the top seam. Next, they emptied its contents through that tiny opening. The squad spreading the fertilizer dropped the empty bag near the cell block door and the cleaning crew brought it inside. After that, hundreds of men muled in small amounts of the fertilizer in pockets, shoes, and matchboxes, pouring each little offering back into the tiny tear at the mouth of the bag. When it was full, they sewed the seam back up and waited for the next search to turn it up. Guards were furious! Political Commissioners tramped into the fields to discover how the men had done it. The prisoners, of course, claimed complete ignorance.

Satan works with sin like a convict with a load of fertilizer. The devout Christian who would never take delivery on a two-hundred pound bag of transgression might not notice as the Enemy slyly slips a pocketful here and a fistful there through a tiny tear in his spiritual defenses. Maybe that's why Jesus equated anger with murder and lust with adultery: Once the first little pile of rebellion trickles in, it's only a matter of time. "It does not matter how small the sins are" Uncle Screwtape, the seasoned tempter, tells his trainee-nephew Wormwood, "provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light and out into the Nothing. Murder is no better than cards if cards can do the trick."

Discipline yourselves and keep alert: Roaring lions or nibbling mice; it's all the same in the end.

More God Than We Bargained For

When all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking, they were afraid and trembled and stood at a distance, and said to Moses, "You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, or we will die." - Exodus 20.18-19

In her book, Spiritual Direction: Beyond the Beginnings, Janet K. Ruffing tells the story of a novice who, uncertain about making her final vows as a nun, was advised by another sister to pray about it. She retired to her cell, where a bright light flooded the room and she felt the overwhelming love of God. She bolted into the hallway. Her friend spied her and asked if she had prayed about her call. "I did," the woman retorted, "and now God is in my room!" 

The children of Israel hustled into the wilderness to meet the Lord at Mount Sinai. When the presence of God manifested in no uncertain terms, they began to wonder if the Egyptians had really been there biggest threat! They immediately elected Moses shop foreman and suggested he handle the negotiations personally; after all, Moses was good at this God-stuff. 

It is good to listen to those who speak for God, unless this strategy becomes a dodge to avoid listening to God for ourselves. C. S. Lewis' demon-mentor Screwtape advises his protege Wormwood to interfere with the "patient's" pray by any means available. He concludes that, "In avoiding this situation - this real nakedness of the soul in prayer - you will be helped by the fact that the humans themselves do not desire it so much as they suppose. There's such a thing as getting more than they bargained for!"

Asking God for things - even big, water-from-a-rock or quail-storm kinds of things - frightens us far less than asking God for, well, God. When the Lord yanked back the veil of the temple, the prophet didn't particularly like what the blinding light revealed about his own spiritual condition (Isa 6.5). Ezekiel saw God and couldn't get a word out edgewise for a week (Ez 3.15). Revelation 6 reveals that the vast majority of folks prefer spelunking to spiritual experience (Rev 6.15-16). And it just may be that a lot of our church business is really church busy-ness carefully crafted to keep God at a respectable distance.

When the novice in the story above explained her plight to her mentor, the older woman asked the obvious question: "Then what are you doing out here?" Perhaps that's something we should ask ourselves from time to time.

But as it is, God has arranged the members of the body, each one of them, as he chose. 

- 1 Corinthians 12.18

In 2000, the Buffalo Bills cut running back Antowain Smith, a former first-round draft pick, after three unremarkable seasons. The New England Patriots signed him and in 2002 he was the leading rusher in their first Super Bowl victory.

In the same game, David Patten scored the Pat's only offensive touchdown. He'd arrived in New England by way of the arena football league and four mediocre seasons with two other NFL franchises. 

Corey Dillon seemed on his way out of professional football when, after an outstanding career, his rushing numbers got smaller and his thirtieth birthday got closer. He joined New England in 2004. He put up his best stats ever that season led all backs in rushing yardage in the 2005 Super Bowl, scoring a touchdown in the 21-24 victory. 

Malcolm Butler, an undrafted rookie, snagged a key interception in the closing seconds to preserve New England's victory in Super Bowl XLIX. St. Louis cut linebacker Matt Chatham in his rookie year; he contributed to three Patriot's NFL championships. 

The guys nobody wants become the guys everybody needs when they put on a Pat's uniform. Players go from marginal to magnificent. Klutz players transform to clutch players. What gives?

Bill Pennington of the New York Times speculates that Pat's coach Bill Belichick has the ability to find places players fit. Matt Light, an offensive lineman and one of Belichick's rescues, explains: "There were always younger guys that maybe got overlooked because there was a piece of their game that hadn't been fully realized, but Bill sees the potential. Bill can wait on them, and then he can insert them into roles clearly defined." 

Hogan, the converted lacrosse player, agrees: "I think the Patriots have shown an ability to see guys for what they can ultimately be, and then they tailor the coaching to see if they can make it happen." Chatham, the reclaimed linebacker, adds, "They're not going to put you out in some sort of uncomfortable situation where athletically you wouldn't be able to do it. They may find things that you do better than anyone else that another scheme doesn't highlight." 

Paul likens the church to a body which knows exactly how to bring about the best opportunity for each member. The foot failed at tying shoes but excelled at walking in them. The ear, though blind as a bat, had twenty/twenty vision when it came to hearing. The hand went from zero to hero when it discovered which role it played in hand-eye coordination. 

Christ, the head (coach), has arranged the members of the body, each one of them, as he chose. What a joy to be a member of that team, where the all-wise Lord slots each person into the place for which he, from before eternity, crafted that individual! Maybe it's time for pastors to quit complaining that the players aren't performing and pay more attention to the placement God has chosen. Maybe it's time for church members to quit trying to walk on their hands or smell with their knee-caps and instead find the joy of relaxing into what God calls them to do.