When I was young, I had a Brooks Robinson poster on my wall. I wanted to be able to bat and throw just like him. I tried, I just lacked the natural talent, and the motivation to train hard enough. I also remember anytime I would watch the TV show "Six Million Dollar Man," I would be transformed inside, and was confident I could go outside and jump off the roof to our house, and no doubt I could run a mile in just seconds. But it never happened. I think I did jump off the roof a couple times, but on an end of the house that was much closer to the ground than the other. Of course, in those days, bumps and bruises were the norm. Not sure I ever knew anyone who wore a bicycle helmet. Not sure they even existed back then!
"Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which He walked." 1 John 2:6
The Bible tells us we are to be more like Christ. How can that be? He was sinless, yet we are full of sin. Is it even possible to go 24 hours straight being exactly like Him? All I can say is that in my life, I doubt it. But why is that? Do I lack the natural talent? Or do I lack the motivation to train hard enough? I believe we ALL have the natural talent to be more like Christ. He loved us enough to die on the cross for us. He wants us to be more like Him. If that wasn't possible, He wouldn't have asked us to do so. Lack of motivation? Yeah, that pretty much sums it up for most of us, to varying degrees.
Several times in my life, I felt like I was really on the right road. Then my life began to crumble around me. I immediately blamed God, and took a step back (or many steps, or sometimes, many miles back.) I felt like the closer I became in my walk with God, the more I would be attacked with different situations. I was scared. But I was also wrong. I blamed God, yet in hindsight, most, if not all, troubles in my life were caused by just one person ... and that one person was ME!
In 11th grade of high school, I came dangerously close to failing English class. If I failed that one class, I would have been forced to be held back and repeat my whole 11th grade year. The decision on whether or not I would fail or pass was not determined until the last day of school. It all depended on a project I had to do before the whole class on an author. My author was John Steinbeck. Being scared of failing, I busted my tail on that project. A large part of the grade was determined on creativity on how the project was presented to the class. With the help of some of my close friends of that time, I did the following. I had the entire class report to the school auditorium. I was on the stage, with props, acting. I acted as though I was a radio disc jockey, and was playing, very loudly, some popular music of that era. I believe the song playing when they all walked in was "Bette Davis Eyes." Once everyone was seated, I interrupted regular programming with an announcement that a UFO had just landed on earth, and immediately, I went to the scene. As the doors to the UFO opened, out came John Steinbeck (I think it was my friend Kenny who played the part.) He explained that this UFO was actually a time machine, and he was sent into the future. For the next half hour, I interviewed "Steinbeck," and presented the needed information to the class in that format. I waited until after school was over and went to Miss D'Angelo's classroom. I needed a 95% or higher on that project to be able to pass the 11th grade. But she was a tough grader. Other projects I found to be fascinating would receive grades in the 80's, and I couldn't figure out why she had been such a tough grader. After watching me sweat for several minutes, she finally told me that I received a 102 grade on my project, which was the highest grade given to anyone the entire year. To this day, I still don't know if I deserved that grade, or if she just felt sorry for me and didn't want to have to deal with me again the following year. I had been a lazy student, not doing my homework, cheating on tests (yet still failing), sort of a class clown. But I passed. With a promise of "I WILL do better next year!"
Fortunately for us all, God does not make us sweat it out. He gives us the answers up front. And all of our tests are open-book tests! But obeying what is written in the Word is often very difficult. It isn't that we don't have the ability to follow His commands. It is difficult because, quite frankly, we have become lazy. We don't want to do our homework. We don't want to do our class projects. We want to follow our own syllabus instead of His. Getting an A in Miss D'Angelo's class was very difficult, but not impossible. If I had been more disciplined, it wouldn't have been so difficult for me. Although I disliked that teacher with a passion, she was, no doubt, an excellent teacher. But Jesus was and is an even better teacher. I want to learn from Him. Most Christians do. Then I need to open my Bible and read what He has to say! I want Him to tutor me! I want to hear what He has to say. I need to pray, with more of a focus on listening to Him than speaking to Him.
Here's the really super cool news: to all those who have accepted Him, God has already promised us an A!
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