Movement is Required

This evening, in a moment of inspiration after hearing a Mark Driscoll sermon, I decided to make a playlist of all the blatantly Christian music that I have in my iTunes library. I was able to come up with 156 songs........... out of over 7000. Supremely worried does not really begin to cover it. As someone who wants to join the ministry to either write Christian literature, teach the gospel or counsel those in trouble by pointing them to Christ, these are not encouraging numbers.

“Josiah, it’s not that big of a deal. It’s just music, right?” 

Yes, and that’s the point. Music always has been and always will be an enormous part of my life. And cliche thought it may be, “garbage in, garbage out.” As my best friend often reminds me, the only reason we have cliches is BECAUSE they are so true.

It is nigh impossible for me to consume that amount of music and not be effected in some way or another. Some of it might be harmless enough, country songs about growing up in a small town, little rock ditties about falling in love, etc. etc. But I wonder how many of those songs encourage rebellion, lust, anger, etc.... things that I struggle with enough already.

One of the things I value more than any other quality in those I choose to surround myself with is honesty. Yes, it may burn my ego all too often, but I would rather someone I love be honest with me and bruise my honor or offend me, than to have them hide the truth because they think it will hurt me. I have always wanted to take this approach if and when I came to the ministry as well, and I know that in that instance, it will probably offend many people. I’m not sure how many people in orthodoxy are going to want a preacher stand up on his first day and say: “Hey, guess what? I struggle with X, Y and Z... and I am going to be your pastor!”

I think that the philosophy of creating the kind of art that you want to see in the world applies to preaching too. Be the kind of preacher that you would want to listen to. Or put another way: be the kind of preacher you need to hear. One of my favorite lines from the movie Luther is when Martin Luther’s father (as in monk father) is sending him to seminary, and Martin begins to protest:

“Why would you send me away to preach when I am questioning my own faith?”

His father just smiles and says: “Martin, we preach best what we need to learn most.”

How true it is.

So, what do I need to learn most? That stasis a good Christian does not make. For months now I have been content to look at my sin and atrophy with a certain bemused gaze of apathy. 

“Oh, hi.... you’re still here?” I drawl as I stare vacantly into the middle distance.

It’s as if I am in a battalion invading Nazi Germany, and we are trying to defeat them by looking at them like curious lemmings and wiggling our rears in their general direction, only to be surprised by receiving butt wounds. Sense.... it does not make.

So what is the solution? “If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off.”

I have heard several sermons on that particular verse now, and I am still not sure how vicious God expects us to be with ourselves. Sometimes I feel like hacking limbs off might be the wisest option... it would certainly cut down on the sin faction. (hehe.... cut...)

But whatever the case may be; whether you take the extremely literal reading of this verse, or whether you are only taking it as an exaggeration of what Jesus was really talking about, one thing is certain:

<MOVEMENT IS REQUIRED>

And this is something that I have most certainly not been doing. I have not made an attempt to curb my music collection. I have not made an attempt to add more Christian music into my diet.... nor have I made any sort of attempt to add more fruits and veggies into my diet. My diet has been poor in generally every area of my life... spiritually, mentally, physically, emotionally. In fact, it is a wonder that I am doing as well as I am right now. Common grace truly is lathered on with a wide brush. Or perhaps, more likely than not, I am experiencing the last part of TULIP in the extreme. (The “perseverance of the saints”... in that God maintains grace and salvation in those that He calls to be Christians.)

Movement.... movement is required.

Now, if you will permit me a little rabbit trail... it will be worth it, I assure you:

I’m a big sci-fi nut. Sci-fi games, sci-fi movies, sci-fi books... even a large portion of the toys I have collected are science fiction related. Because of this I am rather familiar with a fictional invention called the “stasis pod.” I am sure that many of my readers need no explanation further than its name, but for those of you who do not live and breathe science fiction, let me explain:

The stasis pod (otherwise known as a cryo-sleep chamber), is usually a staple part of science fiction universes where faster than light travel has not yet been discovered. Due to the fact that intergalactic travel is possible, yet still takes inordinate amounts of time in these sorts of stories, it is impossible for one crew to pilot a ship from one end of the galaxy to another. If you were just doing travel the old fashioned way, you would have to have your crew procreate and train up a new generation of crew members, and on and on until the ship finally reached its destination. Cryo-sleep is a convenient way to have the same crew who leaves the port wind up at their destination looking exactly the same as they left. (I am quite sure that the main reason for this was so that they wouldn’t have to hire a whole slew of new actors for certain movies and TV shows. It’s purely mercenary... but what isn’t these days?)

So everyone gets into their little pod after programming the ship’s coordinates, they take a long nap, and then the ship automatically wakes them up once they reach their destination... ready to fight, explore and procreate as soon as they leave their little tubes. Handy, no?

But because of all this, I have tended to have a somewhat warped sense of what the word “stasis” means. It does not, in this universe, mean that you can enter a state of perfectly maintained manliness, ready to snap out of it at any moment when your ship arrives. No.... in this world, as Blake Snyder so pointedly tells us in his book Save the Cat!: “Stasis = death.”

It would be incredibly nice if we had the sort of stasis that one might find in Robert Heinlein novel, but no. We must keep moving, lest we die.

The sad part about that idea of continual movement is that not all actions are suitable to all people, something I have had to come to terms with recently. See, stasis is comfortable, but not only for the reasons that you might think. Yes, it exerts a minimal amount of stress upon the body, yes it does not cause you to have to process critically and make logical inferences and deductions, but it also keeps you from offending people.

Granted, there will always be people who will be offended, but my point is that my remaining still, by not rocking the boat, you will be able to offend the least amount of people possible. This is very handy for people pleasers like me, but it certain does a number on your own health and well being. 

So while there will be a few people who will get on your case for staying still, there will be far, FAR more who take offense at any direction you try to aim yourself in. You are either taking too long, or going far too fast. The job you are taking is either beneath you, or there is no possible way you could attain such a feat. That’s a horrible church to go to, they are far too strict, but don’t go to that one either, they are all wishiwashy. I could go on. 

But in the end, that is not the point at all. Movement causes reactions, but sitting still is worse. Going back to more nerdy analogies, most of the video games I play require a certain amount of movement... at quite a rapid pace. In fact, many of the levels in my favorite video games involve running away from a certain impending deadly force, until you reach a specific goal. 

Move, or you die. Stasis = death. Movement is required.

So now what? When the ruts are dug so deep... when the clay is hardening around your ankles. When your son is throwing you a big, fat python and you can’t grab it to pull yourself out of the pit you’re in. (Yes... that was a horrible reference to Indiana Jones 4... please hold the tomatoes.) When you are just.......

..... stuck. What then?

MOVE!

Yes, sometimes any movement at all is good. Right now? I’m going to move over 200 miles away from everything I know right now, and start over in a new town, with new friends, a new fiancee, a new church, and maybe even a new school. It’s going to be freaky scary. 

Of course, simple movement does nothing. Just moving from one place to another can become running instead of improving. And as we all know from every western and gritty action movie ever: running away from your past solves nothing. Actually, that’s pretty Biblical too. I’m pretty sure there was a guy named Achan you tried something similar, and he got his family dead for that one. (Joshua 7:1-26)

My point is, however, that when the wagon ruts become so deep that you think that you will never be able to break loose, just jump the track... and once you do, you may find that making other adjustments may come easier as well. Don’t leave anything undone though..... don’t just run. Running leaves wounds that will simply be harder to heal. But do change... change is good.

Change is good. Listen to me.... I doubt I EVER would have said that a few years ago. I hate change, but I have been changing so much lately that it would be impossible for me to deny that it is an important part of growing and learning. 

One last example, and then I think I’ll lay this horse to rest. What is the Great Commission? 

It is essentially Jesus saying:

“MOVEMENT IS REQUIRED.”

Take the message to the ends of the earth, and not only that, but the very battery that keeps us moving, the very thing that keeps us from the despair and apathy that would cause us to enter that deadly stasis is the message that we carry. Christ is alive, Christ is well and true and free. He was one of us, He came and lived and died and didn’t stay dead. There is only one character in the entirety of history that died and then came back from the dead of His own power. 

Only One who kept moving when the ultimate stasis had been reached. If there is no Christ, I would go so far as to say that stasis is the only option. If there is no Christ, then why not just stay in one place for the rest of your miserable life? Give up... there is nothing else. Life sucks, and then you die. There is nothing but stasis without Christ.

But Christ? Christ is the ultimate movement. He is the ultimate goal. He is the ultimate game, the ultimate adventure. There is nothing outside you besides Christ... at least nothing that has any sort of meaning. King Solomon, the richest and wisest king ever... of all time, said that in a sort of famous book that he wrote called Ephesians. “Meaningless, meaningless... everything is meaningless. A vapor, and chasing after the wind.” The only solid thing that he finds worth chasing at the end of his little book? Christ. The ultimate goal.

And even that king lost sight of his goal. Even he lost momentum and stopped moving... and look how far he fell. 

Christ is movement. Movement is required.

Christ is required.