Margaritaville

Spiritual warfare – probably not an all too popular topic these days mostly because we love to talk about religion and theology but we don’t want to see it applied in the real world. I’m mean let’s be honest that kind of stuff just doesn’t happen in our day and age. We love to believe in our unbelief when it boils down to it.

I’m beginning to understand though that spiritual warfare is all round us all the time. And when push comes to shove it comes to us in the midst of our ordinary circumstances and as a result it often times blindsides us. It takes us by surprise because we don’t know what we’re supposed to be looking for.

Maybe we have this goal, this thing that God has called us to, whatever it may be, and we start pushing for it; bathing the whole thing in prayer; calling out for God to move in a mighty way and somewhere along the way life kicks into high gear and before you know it things blow up in your face and you are focused on something besides the goal that you’ve been called to.
Now whatever it is that bombards you feels important. It feels like it is worth getting all bent out of shape over. So you go with it and you bitch and moan when you get home. Waste your time eating and watching tv because you’re so angry at the idiots in the world that you don’t really want to focus on anything else so you just zone out. It feels right. You’ve been done wrong. You’ve been hurt, offended, put off, inconvenienced and a hundred other things by the inconsiderate actions of others who seem to be more self absorbed than you are and you want to hang on to that for awhile. So you baste yourself in that hogwash until your goose is almost cooked.

But the truth is all of that mess that you find yourself in is nothing more than a distraction. It’s nothing more than something to take your eyes off the goal. That thing that you were not so long ago focused on praying about, working toward is long out of your mind and you’ve been defeated but you don’t even know it because you got caught up in the tyranny of the Urgent, or of the stupid, or of the self absorption of others. You got caught up in the snares that so easily entangle us. You stopped running the good race.

You didn’t mean to. You didn’t want to but your buttons got pushed and now here you are wasting away in Margaritaville. The question is once you figure it out: how long are you gonna spend looking for that lost shaker of salt? When are you going to realize that it’s your own damn fault and reset your eyes toward the prize?

Easier said than done, I know. I’m still kind of reeling myself from being blindsided the other day just when things were going so well. I mean I’ve always had a problem with everyday life anyway. I have to fight sometimes to do the mundane things because I have this lie stuck in my head that says I shouldn’t have to work a real job or pay real bills, or real taxes or any of that stuff. It was a lie that I picked up in my younger days when I thought that being spiritual was being other worldly and that government should just take care of everybody.

I’ve learned to pay less attention to that lie but some days when all my different lives gang up on me at once and fight for dominance ,well, I just want to runaway and find comfort in the lie of being other worldly. And for an instant I find myself longing to live under a bridge somewhere by myself with no responsibilities whatsoever, not ties, no people telling me what to do, no one to have to take care of. No bills, no job, no taxes. Just me and my shopping cart focused on nothing but looking for a place to get warm.

Contrary to popular opinion apart from Christ I have no ambition in life, no desire to be successful, no desire to be responsible because there is no kingdom to advance; no cause worth fighting for. I mean if there is no meaning why bother trying to save the planet?

For me, Christ is the reason I do the juggling act of life. It is the reason I get up and go to work when I’d rather play. It’s the reason I fill much of the rest of my time with trying to figure out ways to help other people fulfill their callings, it’s why I write, It’s why I think outside the box, it’s why I force myself to play nice with others. None of those things come naturally to me. I force myself to be something other than homeless every single day because it is the right thing to do: Because there is a plan that is bigger than meaninglessness and bigger than me.

I won’t lie to you and say that I am always happy about that. But I understand the nature of reality. I understand that this is God’s world and that I am to play it by his rules even if other people don’t seem to have to. The words of Jesus haunt me: For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and will then repay every man according to his deeds.

I have to remind myself that walking on the path of life is the most important thing because the wages of doing other wise are death both now, at the end of our life and for all eternity. So when I finally get around to realizing that I have been blindsided by something that doesn’t matter or that my feet are entangled; I have to remember to shake myself free and then press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. For the Joy that is set before me – at the finished line. The joy of hearing: "Well done good and faithful servant you have been faithful in what I have given you receive more and enter into the joy of your master." There are winners and losers in this thing called life. Not everybody get a medal. Some people’s esteem will be crushed.

So I put my hand to the plow once again and find myself like the RCA Dog, listening for my master’s voice.

Grace and Peace,

Brad