The Unleashed Are Made in the Furnace
Posted in UncategorizedWhere I grew up, there was only one sport people really played–basketball. We played it, watched it, talked about it, and lived it. And the best thing for all of us was that we grew up when the NBA was in its prime. My early years were dominated by the Larry Bird and Magic Johnson clashes, but that was just the prelude to probably the best player of all time–Michael Jordan. He changed everything!
For a kid that loved basketball, I think the word I am searching for to describe Michael Jordan was “magical” (kinda feminine, but I was in junior high). All of us wanted to be “like Mike,” as the Gatorade commercial went. Everyone used to wear bun hugging shorts, but Mike freed us from that nonsense and introduced us to baggy ones. Our socks went from tube socks that were pulled up to our knees, to ones scrunched down to our shoes. And we no longer wore Converse or Adidas; we wore Nike, specifically Air Jordan’s. None of us could dribble with our tongue in our mouths anymore because Mike¹s wasn¹t. And suddenly all of us thought we could jump like Mike so we wore wristbands on our forearms to protect ourselves from the rim.
Everyone wanted to be like Mike, but the mistake we made was to think that if we wore the right clothes and equipment, or if we took on his mannerisms, that somehow we would be like Mike. The problem with this, however, is that we missed the fact that this is not how Michael Jordan became “Air Jordan.” We wanted to be like him, but we didn’t want to work hard in the same way that made him into the greatest player of all time.
Sometimes, I think Christians operate the same way in regards to being like Jesus. If you were to ask most Christians if they want to be like Jesus, the answer would be, “Of course!” If you asked them if they wanted to walk in the steps of Jesus, however, the answer would probably be, “No.” We want to look like him, but if it means pain or discomfort, we are always looking for another way. The problem is that there is no other way.
The writer of Hebrews made sure that we understand that those truly of the faith will suffer, but most important is that they will endure or hold on. This process not only proves our faith (1 Pet. 1:6-7), but it also starts to make us more and more like Jesus.
The apostle Paul put it like this for the Romans, “we rejoice in
our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character” (5:3-4). That word “character” was used during Paul’s day to speak of proof or approval. They used it specifically of refining silver. The silversmith would heat the silver
ore until it melted, and to the surface would come the dross or impurities. He would scrape the dross from the top, let the metal
cool, and then look for his reflection in the silver. He would do this over and over until he could see his face in the metal. Silver that most accurately reflected his face was the most approved or had the highest character.
This is exactly what God is doing in our lives. In life he is allowing the heat to get turned up, and when it does, to the surface always comes impurity and sin! The major issue, however, is not working harder, but trusting the work of the gospel more in your life. Faith!
May 24th, 2009 at 10:54 pm
Most true Christians would say yes, I would have been blown away to be with Jesus and have experienced what Peter, James and John did. But to say walk in His steps, do you mean shoes? Because if it’s shoes walking to the cross, even Jesus didn’t want to take those step. I refer to the garden and the sweating of blood and Jesus asking, if there be another way, but there wasn’t. So Jesus took that wrath in our place, something we could never do. If I, a sinner, walked in those shoes to the cross, I wouldn’t have been much of a spotless lamb.
So I guess the definition of “walk in Jesus steps” is the question. Is it steps like following Him , or is it steps like being in His shoes?
June 4th, 2009 at 5:22 am
Hi, good post. I have been wondering about this issue,so thanks for posting.
June 14th, 2009 at 5:09 pm
Hi, gr8 post thanks for posting. Information is useful!