One Thing it Takes to Be a Successful Follower Of Christ

Mike Hosey, An Elder

If you’ve ever watched a skateboarder on a half-pipe, you’ve watched an amazing thing. The half-pipe is that giant ramp they negotiate that looks like a big “U.”  They roll down a vertical wall on one side that gently curves into a flat area, and then after the flat, they roll through another gentle curve and up a vertical wall on the other side. Often, when they reach the top of that vertical wall on the other side, they launch into the air, execute a full turn around, land on the vertical wall, and then roll back up to their starting point.

I used to skateboard a little as a teenager. In those days I was a bit braver (read stupider – if that’s a word) than I am now, and was willing to try a few crazy things.  But I never had access to a half-pipe. So one day as a full grown adult man, I went with my then teenage son, Caleb, to a park with a half-pipe.  There was a boy there skateboarding on that thing like a pro.  I thought I’d get a few pointers from him and give it a try. The first thing he taught me was that I had to lean into the initial fall on that first vertical wall. This was a totally counter-intuitive skill.  Every cell in my body screamed that I had to lean back as I went down the wall. I never mastered it. And although I didn’t hurt myself, as a man in my forties, I was flirting with disaster.

By Ingo Steinke (Fraktalisman) - Ingo Steinke, CC BY-SA 2.0 de

The point of the story is that some tasks in life require us to go against our normal programming in order to succeed at those tasks.

Many places in the Bible command us to go against the programming of our body, and follow the programming that God’s spirit imparts to us.  Consider Romans 12:14-21, where Paul tells us to bless those who curse us, to feed our enemies if they are hungry, and to give them drink if they are thirsty.  This goes against our programming.  For some people, this is like leaning into that first fall on the half-pipe.  Every cell in your body will scream against it.  But if you want to be successful as a follower of Christ, you must force your body into submission (1 Corinthians 9:27) and throw yourself into the task.  Unlike the skateboarder, though, you have some powerful help. You have the power to do anything that God asks of you, because he is there to strengthen you (Philippians 4:13).