Never say never

Part of a continuing series inspired by sights of Kauai.
Feral chickens run all over the Hawaiian island of Kauai, in part because their natural enemy, the mongoose, was never introduced onto this island.  Go in a tourist shop, and you’ll find chicken-themed souvenirs right next to the shell beads and Hawaiian shirts.

For me, the birds prompted remembrance of that sad, cool night a panicked man tried to keep near his spiritual leader. The man had once vowed he’d never deny a connection to his leader.  But his leader, wise beyond this world, predicted, “Before the rooster crows twice, you’ll deny me three times.”

 

The unthinkable happened:  the wise, gentle leader was arrested by thugs.  The man crept behind them as they took his leader to an official’s house.  The night was chilly, and someone had lit a fire. Cold, probably trembling with fear, he slunk near the fire to warm up

A servant girl—not a well-armed thug—noticed him and said, “This man was with the arrested man.” The man shot back, “I don’t know him.”

A little later, someone echoed her hunch, “You also are one of this man’s followers.”

“I am not!” the man insisted.

 

About an hour later, someone else voiced suspicions: “Certainly this fellow was with him, for he is a Galilean.” The man declared, “I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Just then, a rooster began crowing, and the man remembered his boast. His arrested leader, a captive of ruffians and perturbed religious officials, turned and looked at the man. It was more than the follower could bear.

The man, named Peter, left the scene, heaving with bitter tears. Peter had failed his Savior, broken his boast, revealed the flaws of his character. Like any of us.Peter learned his bitter lesson well. Two letters he wrote after he rose to become a leader in the new sect of “The Way” (later called Christianity), are full of practical ways to follow Christ. I wonder if Peter was thinking of his rooster-announced failures when he wrote:

In this [living hope in Jesus Christ, vv.3-5] you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.  These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. (1 Peter 1:6-7) 

Will we ever face the test of the rooster’s crow? When opportunity comes to share about our faith, will we shrink back? Or use innocent idioms? 

At the Oregon junior college shootings in October, the random victims were asked to state their religion.  Those who said “Christian” got a killing bullet.  I may never face that extreme test. But every day brings tests to act and speak as someone not ashamed of Jesus Christ.

Beyond first steps

Photo: Symbols of babyhood--a bonnet and chunky books.
A few weeks ago, the media reported that an 18-year-old from the Philippines was now the record-holder as the “World’s Smallest Man.” This person quit growing at age one year and is only twenty-two inches tall. He has difficulties speaking, easily falls, and must stay home under his mother’s protective care.His family hoped his notoriety of getting in the Guinness Book of Records would help them find medical care for him.

Hormonal anomalies are certainly to blame for this poor young man’s problems. But his situation got me thinking. What if our physical appearance matched our spiritual and emotional maturity?

Both physical and spiritual “growing up” depend on good food and healthy relationships. On the spiritual side, the “food,” of course, is God’s Word—not just head knowledge, but changed-heart results. The apostle Peter said that new believers need “pure spiritual milk” to grow up in their salvation (1 Peter 2:2). Peter also gave us a progressive list of spiritual growth, beginning with faith, then adding knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness and love (2 Peter 1:5-7). Those latter qualities are honed through social relationships.

I thank God that I had people in my life who cared deeply that I grow spiritually. They helped me develop social skills, challenged me to discover more about myself through volunteering, encouraged me to persevere in difficulties, and prayed for me and with me in life’s tough places.

“Not failure, but low aim, is a sin,” wrote Dr. Benjamin Mays, an American minister and social activist. The rest of his quote goes like this: “The tragedy of life doesn’t lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach. It isn’t a calamity to die with dreams unfulfilled, but it is a calamity not to dream. It is not a disgrace to not reach the stars, but it is a disgrace not to have stars to reach for.”

James said the person “who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins” (4:17). We may have failures along the way, but God says to get up, dust yourself off, and try again. You don’t need to stay stunted, afraid of falling.

God cares about this whole spiritual-growing-up process: “The Lord delights in the way of the man whose steps he has made firm; though he stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand” (Psalm 37:23-24).