Recently we were privileged to have a guest stay with us several days. Very quickly we bonded, in God’s love. The result was some in-depth conversations. Our guest spoke of his formative years, and the structure of love that had moulded his life to what it had become today. In reflection of our four days of heart-sharing, I am left with some lingering impressions.
Colossians 1:23 “If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;”
My new friend, my spiritual brother, my leader in following Christ, was grounded. Grounded in faith. Was he perfect? No, there were some evident imperfections. And today I am impressed that structural strength can have some imperfections.
I have too often been derailed by this thought. I wanted to look on one who was grounded in the Faith set out by the Bible, and find some disqualifying imperfections. At times the effort to find these imperfections was subconscious, but at other times it was a deliberate attempt, on my part, to let an astute example of discipleship be watered down and disqualified as an example for me to follow. This in turn enabled me to return to my despondency and despair.
In the journey of becoming spiritually and emotionally healthy, looking for faults in role models is usually a roundabout way to reinforce a process of “not-today” thinking.
Hebrews 3:15 “…Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts…”
When one is, or has been, in the abyss of destructive behaviour, stalwart role models tend to trigger many emotions and reactions. When we see someone who appears grounded, one who has had, or currently has, a “model life” we want to react – with resentment. While this is understandable, it is a process of thinking that we need to combat with hope.
As we grow stronger, we will, little by little, realize that when we put our hope in Jesus, we begin to understand that both healthy and unhealthy people ultimately must come to Jesus. The Holy Scriptures are replete with reinforcements on this truth.
I Corinthians 10:12 “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.”
This is a verse with three lessons.
- To advise stalwart people of the unreliability of their thoughts about themselves
- To keep stalwart people stalwart
- To enlighten the downtrodden spirit to the fact that worshiping role models is unnecessary. In fact, if we worship role models, we will be devastated when one day we become aware of their fallibility.
We need to learn to rejoice in good. All good comes from God. People will fail us. God won’t. However, people have people-thoughts, because we are people. When we see someone who is successful as a follower of Christ, learn from them.
Recovery from destructive ways is a process. A journey. Have Hope in Jesus. Never underestimate the Power of Jesus. Pray for miracles. Pray in weakness. Believe in strength!
