For a few summers I was a lifeguard at a Christian conference center. One time there was a youth retreat going on when I was on duty at the pool that had a pair of diving boards. One of the youth leaders, Allen, was having fun racing the teenage guys in the pool.
It’s important to understand that Allen was middle-aged and wasn’t quite at his “fighting weight” anymore. Just about all of the young bucks at the pool that day could have smoked him in a 100-yard dash or pushup contest. You wouldn’t look at him and think that he was all that quick in the water. What they didn’t know was that Allen had spent a ton of time in the pool as a young man, and as a longtime member of the swim team, had practiced countless entries into the water, converting his momentum into underwater speed. Before he got into youth work, he was my lifeguarding boss (and we even got into a very sticky situation on the water).
From my lifeguard chair I had the best seat in the house. Allen took on all comers; he and any challenger would both start on a diving board, and on a signal they’d both take off running, dive in, and race to the far side of the pool.
It just wasn’t fair. It was so lop-sided that it stopped being fun for the challengers. Allen started giving them all kinds of advantages. He gave them the higher diving board while he took the lower one. He gave them a head start. He’d only be allowed to have one full stroke to make the far side.
It was close a few times, but nobody seemed able to beat him. A trend started to emerge though. Suddenly, as though it were contagious, many of the young guys would develop “leg cramps” during the race, which was obviously the reason they couldn’t keep up. It got to the point where, even standing in line, challengers would accurately predict that they’d cramp up during their race.
These guys were setting the table for their own failures. Failure is easier to tolerate when there’s an excuse for it, even if the excuse is flimsy or fake. I won’t lie, these guys were outmatched, but setting the table for your own failure, or purposely arranging an excuse for yourself, is giving yourself license to not try your hardest.
How many Christians out there today intentionally do not try their hardest to live the life that Christ has called them to? There’s no denying that a life completely dedicated to Christ is one that’s laced with struggle, exhaustion, agony, hours spent pleading with God…and unparalleled rewards. Yet so many of us set the table for our own failures. Imagine if we could talk with everyone that’s slipped from this life into Heaven, the honest answers we’d get if we started asking questions. “I didn’t give God my all during that life because…”
I believe the day is coming when some of Christianity’s practices or views will be outlawed or “canceled” here in the United States, the very country that was founded for the purpose of practicing freedom of religion. Since we’re not there yet, consider taking advantage of the religious freedoms we currently have. God has a purpose for your life, and He’s calling you to follow hard after Him. No excuses.
Lord God, we know in our heads that this life isn’t the permanent one, but the loud sounds, the bright lights, and the sparkly things here in this life seem like they’re able to distract us more than they should. Please help us have the right priorities, no more excuses, and a willingness to make sacrifices now for the sake of an eternity of satisfaction at having glorified Your name. Amen