After our
class on Wednesday evenings, the kids in our church love to play Dodgeball for
the final 5 – 8 minutes of class. No
other game compares to dodgeball. I have
tried many other games, but the request for Dodgeball always comes back—and that
is how Dodgeball became a permanent institution at Believers Baptist Church. Last week, Josh managed to achieve his first
victory in Dodgeball: He actually hit a girl with a ball. She and I were both equally surprised that
his lightly-lofted ball hit her, but she had been caught off guard while aiming
at her own target. For the rest of the
evening, Josh just smiled to himself from the back row of boys, basking in the
satisfaction of his first successful hit.
One of the real
lessons in Dodgeball, though, is how to take
a hit, and sometimes that’s much harder than taking correct aim. Foam sponge balls don’t generally cause
injury (provided they are directed below the neck and not reaching velocities
that compete with the speed of sound—Junior high boys, please take note). But even without pain, it’s offensive to be
targeted and then hit. Venturing away
from the safety of a remote corner can be risky. The truth is, Dodgeball is much more than
just a fun game. It has a way of
teaching us to face both deliberate opposition as well as friendly fire with
some fortitude. The fellowship hall may
be filled with an army of sweaty kids aiming foam balls at you: Stand
up anyway. Don’t flinch.
Fear cripples.
Almost undetectable at first, it drapes invisible cords around us and
then pulls them tighter when we’re not looking, pulling them like reins and steering
us away from discomfort, ridicule, and loss.
But those cords themselves bring
loss —often more costly than whatever pain we were avoiding. When the slothful servant was asked why he
did not invest his single talent, he responded, “I was afraid.” (Matt. 25:25). Fear of rejection and punishment distracts us
from the mission God has sent us to do.
Stand
up anyway. Don’t flinch.
Fear deceives.
Quiet and sneering, he rarely makes a sound. Unlike other vices, whose presence is
well-advertised and distained (anger, substance abuse, gossip, hatred, laziness),
fear lurks beneath the surface like mold, anonymously wreaking damage before
anyone can even identify the mysterious threat.
Fear hides underneath a lie, disguised as “personality”, or “carefulness,”
when in fact it is turning our eyes away from the One Who has our lives under
His control. “Fear thou not,” said God, “for
I am with thee.” (Isaiah 41:10). “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth
shall make you free.” (John 8:32).
Stand
up anyway. Don’t flinch.
Fear trains our affections toward
selfishness. It is impossible to “look on the things of
others” (Philippians 2) when our scope is filled only with self-preservation. Fear
creates a sense of “victimhood,” leading us to believe that we are being
threatened more than other people around us are threatened. Fear vigorously instructs us not to try anything
risky, not to give more than we can afford to give comfortably, not to befriend
someone who might reject us. “But perfect love casteth out fear . . .” (I John 4:8). “But God commendeth (showed)
His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8).
Stand
up anyway. Don’t flinch.
Fear makes liars of us.
Fear tells us what to say, until we forget who we really are and what we
really believe. “The fear of man
bringeth a snare.” (Prov. 29:25). Fear tells us to adjust our core beliefs to
match the approval of those around us. “For
do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I yet pleased
men, I should not be the servant of Christ.”
(Gal. 1:10).
Stand
up anyway. Don’t flinch.
“What time I am afraid,
I will trust in Thee.”
Psalm 56:3
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