Matthew 5:6 – Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be satisfied.
“Well, if you can’t remember, just forget it!”
Actually I can’t remember, but I can’t forget it. I can’t remember who told me this story, parable, analogy; but I may have thought it up. Think I heard it long ago. Here goes.
The story begins with an award-winning ice skater performing on an Olympic level. She was truly magnificent to watch. In one competition in particular, due to a tragic set of circumstances including jumps that weren’t landed well, spins that spun out of control, and poor performances by every other skater in the competition, our skater (we’ll call her Megan, since today is my granddaughter Megan’s birthday) was so far ahead on points that her final event was the only event left. She could not lose. She was told by her coach that no matter what she did, as long as she skated the final event and finished, she would win gold!
So, a battle of questions began to course through Megan’s mind. “Do I play it safe and skate a simple, non-challenging routine?” “Do I skate as if I were in last place and needed to land every jump and be perfect on every part of my routine?” “What do I do?” As she stepped onto the ice, another thought came to her. She skated to center ice to begin her routine and another thought prevailed. She skated a routine that she’d practiced only once. She skated a routine with THE highest difficulty she’d ever attempted. As she skated, knowing that she could not lose, Megan brought the audience to its feet with her performance. She skated with reckless abandon. Oh, she didn’t land every jump perfectly, but she surprised herself as well as the crowd with moves and feats of ice-skating prowess.
Finishing her less-than-perfect, but highly exciting routine, Megan felt a sense of satisfaction, knowing that she’d done her absolute best. She’d broken out of the “routine” routine to give all she had for the audience’s enjoyment, and I might add, to honor her coach.
When you and I come to understand how loved we are by our Father in heaven and His Son Jesus Christ, we want to “please our Coach”. Experiencing God’s forgiveness for all sin and being accepted unconditionally into God’s forever family, may raise some questions to answer?
- How will we live while in the arena of life on earth?
- Will we struggle through just trying not to make a mistake?
- Will we do our best routine and stick to the script?
Or
- Will we daily live to please the Coach of our Life, Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord, and put into practice all we’ve learned from God’s Word?
- Will we trust the Lord’s wisdom in new circumstances we’ve not ever experienced?
- Will we “skate for the glory of the coach”? Will we live for the glory of God and know the satisfaction that comes from being free to live a life that “escapes the corruption in the world” (2 Peter 1:4; Psalm 27:1) and “partake of the divine nature”? Remember that you are designed to partake of God’s divine nature.
A) Would you look up the verses in 2 Peter and Psalms then ask God if He approves of you and accepts you on your own (good works, performance) or on the gift of grace He has given you because of your faith in Jesus? (Romans 5:17) Remember you are forgiven and free.
B) Would you ask yourself if you are living just to “make it”, to not make God mad, to become what others expect, or because of the gifts from God, you can live in freedom and power to love as He loves and to live as Jesus lived?
C) Is there a person or several people you know living an enviable, free life who seem to know Jesus, and who find satisfaction in their life rather than having to have more of the world’s toys to experience any happiness at all?
In Jesus Christ, you and I who are His family, have already won the gold medal of freedom and the gift of righteousness. Time to “skate like we already won!”
Dave Lewis