Get Back Into The Pool!

 

There’s this story about an overweight out-of-shape fellow who started a swimming regiment. For many months before he had walked for weight-loss, but in his research on “the best way to lose weight” later reasoned, swimming would be a faster way of shedding his accumulated and unnecessary poundage. Three times weekly he went to the local gym to make good use of its state-of-the-art indoor pool, but he did so acutely aware of how he was not like the other swimmers. He watched out of the corner of his eye, awed by the maneuvers others performed. With ease, chiseled and sculptured bodies performed their picture-perfect flips, and somersaults, and dives as he sheepishly held on to the pool’s edge, occasionally bobbing up and down showing off his ability to hold his breathe while pinching his nose. None of the expert swimmers seem to give him much attention so, after three weeks in the pool, he returned to the safety and security of walking. Discouraged and ashamed, he walked round and round the local school track and said to himself, “When I get into shape, I’ll return to the pool.”

I wonder how many people use that same line of reasoning when it comes to meeting with the church, or more accurately, attending worship. “When I get into shape, I’ll go.” “When I get my life in order, I’ll be there.” “I’ve got a few things in my life I need to straighten out first, then I can attend worship.” These attitudes of the heart reflect faulty reasoning. These thoughts assume wrongly that everyone else is perfect but we are inadequate and will not “fit in”. These ideas suggest that the church is more a safe haven and sanctuary for the self-righteous than it is a hospital for broken and hurting hearts. I must confess that I have, in the past, chosen the earthly over the spiritual when I worried about this world and its distractions; when I neglected prayer and Bible study; when money and material things were becoming too important to me; and when I was not actively seeking ways to serve Christ and save souls. An occasional short-coming that does not characterize me is one thing, but I do not want to become like those bread-chasers recorded in John 6:22-40. I do not want to resort to Christ when all else is falling apart in my life. I want Christ to be the priority of my life, letting him fix what is broken in me and use me as a tool in his hand.

[Colossians 3:1-17] When worshippers come together to praise and give thanks to God for what he has done for each of us, we assemble on equal footing. All are sinners. All are sin sick. All are in the need of God’s grace. All are needing and seeking God’s forgiveness. The call of Jesus is not, “Get it right, and then come unto me.” The call of Jesus is, “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:28-29). The key words here are “learn from me”. Jesus said, “…I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance” (Mark 2:13-17). The call of the church must be identical to the call of Jesus. Even if you don’t feel “good enough” or “in shape,” that’s exactly the kind of heart for which God is looking. Stop walking and wandering around in the world looking for fulfillment in your life. Get back into the pool! The church does not exist to tell you how to live. The church and God’s Word exists to help build one up, become spiritually strong, preparing one for the life to come, saving one from the horrors of eternal punishment. A person changes from the inside out and a God-fearing spirit develops a faithful, disciplined life. “Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the Lord and depart from evil” (Proverbs 3:7).