Antonio
de la Rosa made the news this week as he reportedly spent 76 days
paddling a combination
paddleboard canoe 2500 miles from California to Hawaii.
Now,
I
completely understand the first ten miles.
Starting a new adventure is exciting.
I also understand the last three miles.
Completing a goal is fun! The
part
I do not get is mile 1323 when he was out in the middle of the
Pacific where one
wave looked just like the next and progress was hard to measure. The middle is where most
people quit.
I
have
seen that in church too. Starting
is
fun. Everyone cheers at
baptisms. Endings are
honoured as we gather to say
goodbye to Christian brothers and sisters.
It is the middle that sinks us. In
Ephesians 4:1, Paul urged the Ephesian church to live a life
worthy of the
calling they had received and then gave them two areas to focus on
to help them
make it through the middle.
First,
they needed to see themselves correctly.
“Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with
one another
in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through
the bond of
peace” (Ephesians 4:2-3). Too
often, we
are our own worst enemy. Thinking
that
our way is the only way, we start demanding that others do what we
want them to
do. Scripture says that
will not
work. As someone pointed
out, “Immature
Christians are hard to please and easy to offend!” Acting that way is a sure
path to trouble.
Secondly,
they needed to value the body of Christ.
“To each one of us grace has been given as Christ
apportioned it… So
Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists,
the pastors
and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that
the body of
Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and
in the
knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the
whole measure
of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:7-13).
We
are
stronger together. We
benefit from each
other’s giftedness. We
mature as the
body of Christ by living in the body of Christ.
It is naïve to think that you can make your spiritual
journey
alone. When we understand
the battle
that we are in (Ephesians 6:10-20), then we will value the
strength that is
found in the church.
Beginnings
are good, but how we live the middle will determine the ending.
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