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I sometimes view my life as an episode of Seinfeld. Some days, I play the part of Kramer, other days it’s George, and yet other times it’s some cartoon-like character with quirky traits and personality. Sometimes I can be annoying, other times funny, and sometimes serious. I have to be honest. Bad things often happen to me. If those things happened on a TV sitcom or if I watched them happen to someone else, I would find them hysterical. However, when afflictions are actually happening to me, they seem tragic and bigger than life.
In reality, I am playing a major part in God’s epic movie of good versus evil. I’ve been drafted into a battle of cosmic significance. I am one of Jesus’ valiant soldiers. The stakes are extremely high, but the pay off far exceeds my wildest dreams. For the first time in my life, I know I have what it takes to be a man. What will eternity with Christ hold for me? Imagine getting everything you always wanted but multiplied by ten thousand.
In all honesty, I haven’t always been a good soldier. Sometimes, I fall to the back of the pack, and sometimes I hide in a safe foxhole instead of advancing on the enemy. At other times, I get wounded, and I want to give up. I hope to be shipped home. Fortunately, God has blessed me with a Band of Brothers who pick me up when I’ve been wounded. They lift me up and carry me out of danger until my wound heals. My brothers encourage me, strengthen me, and fight by my side. I fight for them too. After all, they are my brothers.
My life is incomplete without Jesus. To borrow a line from the movie Jerry McGuire, “He completes me.” It took me thirty plus years to figure that one out. I am a work in progress. I am Humpty Dumpty but The King has put me back together again.
Like most everyone in this world, I have lived most of my life by my rules and on my terms. Needless to say, it has gotten me into a lot of trouble and sometimes life got ugly. Despite my rebellious nature, Jesus never leaves me or forsakes me. I, on the other hand, have turned my back on him countless times. Much too often, I have gone AWOL from God’s battle. Yet he always welcomes me back with open arms. Instead of court-marshalling me, Jesus simply reinstates me into his army. He chooses to forget my mistakes and my misguided attempts at self rule. In fact, Christ nailed them to a cross.
God bless you,
Tim Miller
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