Dear friends, do not be surprised at the
fiery ordeal that has come on you to test
you, as though something strange were
happening to you.
1 Peter 4:12
I’d wanted to get my motorcycle license since I was 16 years old. For any of you counting that’s about 37 years ago. Back then, my mind and body were young and better equipped to handle the fast moving issues surrounding the dangers of riding. So, when I finally made a lifelong dream come true, I decided to take a motorcycle safety class. In order to pass the class, we were required to learn and practice a few emergency maneuvers. In one situation we were to swerve, at a fairly fast speed, to the left and to the right in a tight “z.” In another we had to learn how to safely make a quick stop. In both, the decision had to be made in a blink of an eye to stay in the fight to be upright or to take flight from the bike.
The key to both safety maneuvers is where our focus lay – straight ahead. Our tendency, as new riders, is to look down at the front wheel. This is a sure fire way to crash, as I found out during one quick stop practice.
I’ve now been riding for about four years. But it is in the back of my mind at all times that I’m not sure how I will react when faced with a real emergency. I have the knowledge but not the wisdom of experience. Will I stay in the fight or take flight?
Isn’t our faith journey a lot like that?
Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,
whenever you face trials of many kinds, because
you know that the testing of your faith produces
perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work
so that you may be mature and complete, not
lacking anything.
James 1: 2-4
We, through our faith teachers and reading the Word, gather up our knowledge of God and how His son, Jesus, loves us so much. But until we have faced an emergency, a faith testing, we cannot truly know how we will respond.
I think one of great crossroads in the New Testament is when Peter professes to Jesus that he will always stand by his friend. And when the faith trial came, he fled. Not once, not twice but, three times. And we ask ourselves, what would we have done?
Peter had the knowledge of Jesus but not the wisdom of a faith tested. And even after he realized the truth of the situation and witnessed Christ’s death, he still turned away for a time by going back to his old life of fishing rather than carrying out his friend’s commission.
I’m so grateful that the one player in the story of humanity never takes flight from us – God. He is the “long sufferer” in our thousands-year old journey. At each turn where we have either forgotten or abandoned Him, God has stayed the course and given us grace.
I once was so angry with God that I made the decision to stop believing in Him. I remember yelling up to the heavens, “I don’t trust you and I don’t believe in you anymore!”
I spent the next few weeks in a tug-o-war of sorts. At one moment I would find myself arguing with God and then another reminding myself not to talk to someone I didn’t believe in. And He never left me.
And let us run with perseverance the race
marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus,
the pioneer and perfecter of faith.
Hebrews 12:1-2
I’ve had minor emergencies while out on my motorcycle – cars swerving in front of me, lights quickly changing from green to red – where I’ve accessed that knowledge from my safety class. It’s wisdom building. And God has given me minor trials along the way. With each opportunity to decide whether I stay upright, keeping my eyes firmly fixed on Jesus or to take flight, I build up my wisdom and faith muscles.
Peter, who although had the blessed opportunity to stand alongside Jesus for three years, had to face his own trials in order to fully mature from knowledge of God to having the wisdom and faith of His character and ways. When he took his eyes off Jesus, he was given grace. Jesus returned to him over and over.
As Christ followers, we know the entire story from which draw upon. And at every life emergency my hope is that we continue to stay upright with eyes fixed on Him.
emboldened.net 