Picture a chair. Any kind of sturdy chair that you want. All it needs it 4 legs and a seat.
Some people will picture a straight back wood chair. Solid. Long lasting
Some people will picture a comfy, squishy chair. The kind in which you can curl up and take a fabulous nap.
Some people will picture a throne. Golden, ornate, bedazzled
Do you believe in that chair?
What I mean is, do you believe that your chair can hold you? Do you believe that if you sit down in said chair, that it will not collapse under you? Of course you do. It’s a sturdy chair. There is no reason to question it’s ability to hold you as you sit.
That’s faith y’all……faith in the chair. Faith that you can sit down in your chair, and it will not break or fall.
But take it a step past faith.
You have faith that the chair can hold you but it’s not until you walk over and sit your posterior right down on that chair that you have to truly trust that chair’s ability to hold you. You put your faith in the chair into action by trusting in it’s ability to hold you up and sitting on right down. And the chair holds. Thank goodness…..that trust took your faith to a new level and the chair was proven worthy.
But…. what if you have faith that the chair can hold you, but when it comes down to the action of actually trusting it…..well you just can’t.
You realize as you prepare to sit that you just can’t do it. Yeah, you know on that higher level of faith that the chair will hold you. You’ve seen it hold other people before you…..but you just can’t bring yourself to put all your weight into the chair.
Maybe it’s because don’t know who made the chair. Is it a reputable company with 5 stars on Amazon? Maybe it’s a popular style but you’re just not feelin’ it. Maybe other chair sitters have told you how awesome and comfy the chair is and tell you that you should totally sit in it but something is just holding you back. Maybe you even find and read books about the chair, but you’ve never read the manual itself so you’re not totally comfortable with it.
There are just so many questions…….so, instead of trusting and sitting down, you do the girl public toilet squat.
Fellas, let me just stop here for a hot second and explain something. Y’all were given some amazing hardware that makes it possible for you to pee anywhere you darn well please and you don’t have to touch any part of a public toilet to do so. Us ladies, well, God didn’t see fit to give us this gift, so we have devised this amazing half squat hover over any and all public toilets to keep the public cooties off our sweet tooshies. It doesn’t matter if we haven’t done a workout squat since 1984….when it comes to urination in a public bathroom, we have quads of steel.
And now, back to the chair.
So, you have faith in the chair but can’t bring yourself to truly trust that it will do what it is supposed to do for you personally. But in this little scenario, you are surrounded by people who fully trust the chair and you don’t want to seem lame or look like an anti-chair-ist…..so you do the girl public toilet hover squat. You look like you have both faith and trust in the chair but in reality, you just don’t trust the chair one little bit.
Now, what happens if you squat for a long time? Anyone remember wall squats? Yeah, my high school basketball coach had an evil love for this torture. We had to lean again the wall and act as though we were sitting at a super comfy 90 degrees for minutes at a time. What happened after 30-45 seconds? Someone on the team would be in so much pain that they would lift up, and then we all had to start the drill all over again.
Unsupported squatting for a period of time HURTS! It’s exhausting!
So, you have a choice. You can either just go ahead and fully commit and trust the chair and sit on down……or you can stand up for a second, let the lactic acid dissipate and then commence to hover squat again……and get exhausted again….and again….and again. Over and over, never ending.
Now, picture Jesus.
Some people will picture Him as the Jewish carpenter. Solid. Strong.
Some people will picture comfy, squishy God. The God in which you can curl up in His lap and get the hugs and snuggles and take a fabulous nap. Our Good Daddy.
Some people will picture Jesus on the throne. The King. God of the Universe. The Alpha and Omega.
Do you believe in Jesus?
What I mean is, do you believe that Jesus died for the sins of all humankind? That means you, me….all. Do you believe that if you say “yes” to this sacrifice of Jesus, “yes” to the free gift of forgiveness that He offers to everyone, that He will cover your sins, i.e. your mistakes, and this free gift will make you sinless in front of the Father God? (If you can’t say yes to this but you are curious….let me know. I’m always up for a cup of coffee and a good Jesus chat)
That’s faith y’all……faith in Jesus. You know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus has paid the cost for you, you live in forgiveness……and you are free.
But take it a step past faith. Think back to our chair. You have faith that the chair can hold you but it’s not until you walk over and sit your posterior right down on that chair that you have to truly trust that chair’s ability to hold you.
It’s the same with Jesus.
You put your faith in Jesus into action when you trust Him enough with your heart and your life here and now. It’s all about relationship. Your relationship with Jesus grows when trust begins. (Please note that I am not saying “be religious” or follow a certain church or denomination….this relationship should be all about Jesus).
You choose to trust Him with your heart and your life. You commit your life to Him. You invest daily in a relationship with Him. And, although life still ain’t so easy you have an inexplicable, supernatural peace, hope, joy and love because of Him. It makes no sense, but you have it. Thank goodness…..that trust in Jesus took your faith in Jesus to a new level in your life, and He was proven worthy.
But…. what if you have faith that Jesus can save you from eternal separation from God, but when it comes down to the action of actually trusting Him in the day-to-day moments of your life…….well you just can’t. You’re totally down with the eternal Heaven thing but you would really prefer that He keep clear of your life here and now.
You’ve heard lots of different things about Him from some of His “fans” and some of His “followers”. You hear that you have to live right, you have to give things up, you have to do this and do that and be a certain way and say certain things and vote a certain way and think a certain way…….. and based on this, trusting Him just with life now just doesn’t sound appealing.
And in this little scenario, just like with the chair, you are surrounded by these fans and followers and you don’t want to seem lame or not as “holy” or not as “into Jesus” as them……..so you look and sound like you are trusting Jesus every day but you are not actually choosing to trust Him every day…..you are doing the spiritual girl public toilet hover squat.
And just like with those darned wall squats and just like with the chair, unsupported squatting for a period of time HURTS! It’s exhausting! We can’t find the hope, the peace and the joy, the love that Jesus promises us.
Instead of trusting in Jesus and turning our daily lives over to Him, we are doing everything we can to prove to Jesus just how trustworthy we are. We are doing all the church events, we are doing all the “Christian” things, we are following all the American Christianity rules, we are voting a certain way because our church says that’s how good Christians vote, we buy all the books about the Bible but fail to read our actual Bible, we say our good night prayers with our kiddos, we have a cute little prayer over our food, we smile the right smile, we look the right way, we work and work and work at being good church folk…….and we are EXHAUSTED.
God, I am doing SO MUCH for you…..where are you? Why am I burnt out?
So, you have a choice. You can either just go ahead and choose to fully trust Jesus with your life here and now or you can stand up and take a short break from your spiritual hover squatting, try to get a vacation in to recoup but then jump right back into the squat and do all the “Christian” things……and get exhausted again….and again….and again. Over and over, never ending.
Why are so many of us public toilet hover squatting instead of surrendering and trusting Jesus?
It’s two little words…..pride and control.
We want to prove ourselves worthy. Look at me Jesus, I’m a super Christian!!!!! I’m doing it all for you, Big Guy!
We want to control everything to make sure life is running exactly how we think it should. Look at me Jesus and look at me world, I’m living a comfortable, blessed and charmed “Christian” life.
All the while, we are completely wiped out. Our lives are crumbling. Our questions about why seem unanswered. We can barely see straight at the end of the day. We are exhausted. We have not hope, no peace, no joy, no love.
And instead of choosing to trust the One who gave us life, gives us true hope, gives us true peace, gives us true joy, show us how to truly love……we wake up each morning and hover squat.
How about today we give up the hover squat.
Today, may we choose to fall on Jesus’ lap and choose to trust Him.
And this not a one-time choice, y’all. We have to choose every day, every minute, every action, every thought……every time.
That trust will take your faith to a new level and will prove Jesus worthy.
He is worthy of our trust. Nothing else and no one else is.
No more spiritual girl public toilet hover squats.
He will hold you up. Trust Him.
A Beautiful Mess 