Life is a story. The events that happen around us are connected, and God is inviting us to get caught up in it. If that's true, then it's worth considering who are the enemies? Why don't we feel engaged in our own story? Why is there no suspense, no intrigue, no mystery, no unveilings? I want to tell about three enemies that come from within. I'm sure there are others.
The first enemy is rationale. Our minds will drive us toward understanding an event. That is, something happens in our life, and we completely understand the what. A friend dies. We lose our job. I fight with my long time friend. This much is easy. But our hearts and minds want to know why. Why did it happen? This is one of the ways we are different from animals--you've never heard an animal wonder why. It is a legitimate, God-given desire to understand why. But our minds convince us to grab the fallen timbers of the event and nail together a poor little hut, a shelter from the storm.
God never promised He would explain why to us. Seems to me it's pretty important that we don't understand why. If we knew the reasons, the plot, the story line, well, we just might try to pick up a pen and rewrite the story. No, faith gives substance to things we hope for, and convinces us of the things we can't see. If we knew why, there would be no need for this hoping. There would be no opportunity to act without knowing exactly why.
The second enemy is our tendency to want to be right. Consider our response when someone is about to make a decision. "I think you should..." Think deeply about the steps you take before you act. Are they not carefully thought out? Don't you want to do the right thing? Weigh the pros and cons, the wisdom, the benefits? Don't you want to be seen as having done the right thing?
My friend Steve Coan and I have been talking recently about the difference between doing what's right and doing good. Jesus was continually doing what people perceived to be the wrong thing. Stayed behind in Jerusalem by himself. Broke the Sabbath. Said the wrong things. Irritated people. Offended people. Hung out with the rabble of society. Defended prostitutes. But he still went about doing good.
There is a world of difference between doing what's right and simply doing good. And it's worth not doing anything for a time in order to sort this one out.
The third enemy is routine. Perhaps the most sinister of all, routine denies the existence of story in our lives. Routine says, I know what I will do today, and tomorrow, and next week. I know that if certain things change, this is how I will respond. I will drive risk out of my life. I will be efficient and punctual. I will perform. People will know what to expect from me, and I will know what to expect from life.
Story lines are never ever full of routine. What a boring book it would be if each new chapter read the same as the one before. You life is going somewhere, and you might have to turn onto a different street tomorrow, or today, or right this minute. What will you do? If you are slave to routine, you will resist. And in resisting, you will be refusing to play your part, both in your own story and likely in someone else's.
I will add more to this thread, as I am seeing more and more enemies the longer I live within my own story.
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