Watching my 4-year-old daughter’s first time balance beam experience only lacked popcorn and a comfy couch. For me, it even rivaled “Braveheart” due to the intense battles fought.
Battle one began with fear-drenched words: “The beam is too high, too scary, and I can’t do it, Mom!”
Battle two came after the 15 minutes of smooth talk and bribery to get her on the beam: “This isn’t comfortable to walk like this.”
Battle three beckoned a new level of trust as she grabbed my arm: “Don’t go away! Stay right beside me the whole time.”
Amidst the awkward body positions and occasional tears (from both of us), my past high school cheerleader self showed up in the frustrated, desperate moments. “You can do it,” I reassured over and over.
At the end, she was beaming. I was beaming. She had overcome the beam.
“Well done, girlie, well done,” I proclaimed.
She immediately exclaimed, “Wow! I’m the winner!”
Living life with our identity as a servant of Christ is like living life on the narrow beam. Just like my daughter had to overcome many battles along the beam, so we will have to fight battles of fear, opinions of others, Satan’s lies and our own selfishness in order to follow Christ. But we win when we choose God’s ways above our own. Coach Jesus never leaves our side. Our only job is to love and obey our coach as He leads us.
In the end, when we see our coach in heaven, He will proclaim, “Well done, good and faithful servant,” and we will yell, “Wow! I’m the winner!”
“Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ” (Galatians 1:10).
Jesus said in Matthew 7:14, “But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”
Jillian Willis of Newberg, Oregon, is a worship arts pastor and the author of “Sing Over Me: A Women’s Devotional through the Psalms” (fmchr.ch/jwillis) and a blogger at standingonpeace.com.
DISCUSSION:
[1] How will you be an overcomer when the battles of fear and others’ opinions go against the Spirit’s voice? [2] What area (finances, school, parenting, spouse, work, activities, technology, etc.) do you have difficulty walking on the narrow beam rather than on the wide road of this world? Why? 0
