"Rise and Rise Again
Until Lambs become Lions"
- (from "Robin Hood", 2010)
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A new year.
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A new beginning.
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A new chance to fight a little tougher, hang in there a little longer, rise a little higher, become more like the person we've always wanted to be.
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No, this isn't just some kind of self-help mumbo-jumbo meant to psyche you up for a challenge that you are destined to lose.
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Yes, God does play a crucial role in this whole "becoming something more" thing we call growing into the image of Christ, growing into restored humanity.
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But come on - you're the one living your life: all the theological arguments aside about what part God plays and what part humans play, you know what happens when you let yourself slip into complacency...when you stop chasing this thing called holiness...when you stop fighting for abundant life and intimacy with the Father and power through the Spirit.
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You know what happens.
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Not much.
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There just aren't a whole lot of 'free passes' in the Christian Life. Most mornings God is not going to leave a message for you in your email inbox, so if you run straight into checking your mail and all the rush of the day, He's probably going to let you. It's not that He doesn't care. It just seems to be the rules that govern this particular fairy tale that we have fallen into. There's just a whole lot that's up to us.
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More than we are comfortable admitting, for the most part.
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"Creation seems to be delegation through and through. God, it appears, does nothing on His own that He could possibly delegate to His creatures..."
(C.S. Lewis)
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"Without God we cannot. Without Man, He will not." (Augustine)
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Again, this isn't about 'theology'. This is about what happens when you try it. Spend an hour a day getting alone and quiet and attempting to access the presence of God, and you are likely to find Him...with varying levels of success, admittedly. But spend your whole day on the run from one thing to the next with no time for God and, well...we both know how that works out. It's like the whole supernatural reality can fade into non-existence, begin to feel like a farce and a fantasy.
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So what are we to do? Regardless of the unseen theological mechanisms at work behind the scenes, here at the level of our experience we can't deny that so much appears to basically be up to us. What will we do next? What will we do with this year? With this day? With this moment?? Will we develop a Warrior's spirit? A dogged refusal to stay down in the mud, no matter how many times we've fallen flat on our faces? A unyielding commitment to our own transformation - to the long and brutal training that it may require to turn us from lambs to lions?
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We'll be honest with you: if 2011 felt like you spent more time with your face in the mud than on your feet, you are not alone. We're right with you on this one. No worries that we think anybody who feels like its a fight just to keep moving forward is some sort of failure who just needs to understand their 'victory in Christ Jesus'. No, we know it's not that easy.
Will you walk with us through the year ahead?
