Dare You to Move – Tension is Here

Greetings Dear Reader,

I used to love being part of a tug of war team during field events in school.  I was big and strong and made a great anchor.  Win or lose the moment I loved the most was the release of the tension when the match ended.  Pressure and tension have always been my enemies. 

Resistance to God always yields tension.  So much of the dissatisfaction, pressure, and tension in our lives has its power due to our resisting the pull of God on our spirit.  Those who know God and are not following cannot help but have tension.  Those who do not know him face the lifelong tension of his call to their spirit. 

The real tension is the difference between who we are and who we can be in Christ.  I know so many people who at some point were determined to be what Christ was calling them to become and have abandoned that quest.  Samuel Shoemaker Moore in his apologia I Stand by the Door said, “Once taste God and nothing but God will do.” 

So many things in my life that dissatisfy are a result of my failing to follow the process to be what I could be instead of what I am.  This process takes courage.  When God designs us he puts a pattern in our hearts for us to actualize in our lives.  The tension builds as we move further from that pattern.  Even if we do not admit it much of our pain is our failure to live out what God has created us to be with him.

The other aspect of the tension is the difference between how it is and how it should be in the world.  We conceive of a world where people treat each other with love and grace.  We feel the tension that it does not exist.  We live in a world where life is tense because we do not love each other as we should, as God intends us to love.  When we do not move toward the love that Christ wishes us to share in him we hinder the redemption process.

Tension yields pain in us.  The truth is that I can release that tension by faith and following thus reducing the pain.  I can put life in perspective and work to follow Christ instead of not following.  I can get up from my place of refusal and falling.  I can work toward the redemption that Christ wishes for us all.  I can move.  I dare you to move. 

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store."