Giving Up, Letting Go, and Hanging On

I've had a wonderful opportunity lately to work in a nursery on a consistent basis with a pretty large group of kids under the age of four. I've really grown to love them... but when they start to get fussy or throw fits over things, and then refuse my advice or comfort... it can be kind of frustrating. It's the simple lessons of giving up, letting go, and hanging on that they just can't seem to get: "In order to get a cool, new toy you want to play with, you may have to let go of the one you're playing with now; I know you want to start the TV, but why don't you let go of the remote you don't know how to use, and let me do it for you; if you really want to make a basket in the goal, you have to try more than twice..."
Obviously, these are just a few examples... but you get the gist of it. But a funny thing happened the other night while I was thinking about these kids: God told me that I'm one of them! I had this dream:

I was playing nerf-gun wars with a few friends of mine in this city-like area. The rules were simple: If you get hit three times, you're out. So we started playing, running around and shooting at each other. Before I knew it, I had two hits on me. Someone began chasing me trying to get my one last hit in order to eliminate me from play. So I took off running - through streets, over cars, in and out of buildings... until I reached this green pasture area and tripped, rolling down a hill. My buddy was coming down after me ready to get the last hit on me, so I quickly turned and started shooting just as they began to shoot at me. But suddenly, we weren't shooting darts anymore - our guns had turned into water guns! We continued firing at one another and soaking each other until a voice said, "It's no longer about winning or losing, it's about who gives up first."

Now, from a glance... this just sounds like a silly dream. But I woke up knowing there was some substance to it, and this is what God has been pressing on my heart for a while. Take a look at this passage of scripture with me:

"Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you." -Philippians 3:13-15

Paul wrote this letter with the intent of getting the believer's mindset right. For Paul, it wasn't about a physical achievement, it was about their heart attitude. He encourages them in this passage to "be thus minded" - not to act this way... to "be thus minded."

So how does all this tie together?

Well, there's three things:
1. It's not about winning or losing, it's about who gives up first.
2. We, as Christians, are little kids. We don't know what to give up, let go, or hang on to.
3. This is a mindset change that pushes us towards our destiny.

So let's start with number one! What on earth does that dream mean?

Well, at the beginning of my dream, success was measured in a very attainable way. Basically, three strikes and your out! Sadly, many Christians live their spiritual lives in a similar way. We so often use our carnal minds to try to discern spiritual things that we try to use worldly goals to reach heavenly prizes, and it just doesn't work like that! We often have this "checklist" mentality that enables us to make spiritual growth a series of achievements. The big problem with this, is that it erases grace, enables men to reach perfection, and disallows the work of the Spirit! And that's a BIG PROBLEM!

If loving my neighbor becomes a task, it means that I can somehow either succeed or fail at doing that task. However, the Bible tells us that we are saved, not by our works of righteousness, but by his grace! I think its safe to say that our "heavenly calling," also mentioned in Ephesians three, takes more emphasis on God's grace completing us than our "righteous acts" fulfilling our destiny. And if our  own righteous acts can get us to maturity, what's the need for the Spirit? The bottom line is this: "Spiritual Maturity" really isn't something we obtain, it's something we pursue.

Another part of my dream I didn't mention had me set in a foreign mission field trying to use carnal tactics to reach the lost for Christ. It wasn't working. God then used this seemingly silly analogy to teach me about what Spiritual Maturity and Spiritual Success is really defined by:
"It's not about winning or losing, it's about who gives up first."
Or the amplified version:
"It's not about obtaining or falling short, it's about giving up, letting go, and hanging on to the right things."

So what's with giving up, letting go, and hanging on? How do they relate to Spiritual Maturity and Success?

Well, Paul talks about these three very important concepts in the passage in Philippians 3: He does not count himself to have apprehended; he forgets the things behind him; and he presses forward to things in front of him. Paul tells us that this is the mindset of a mature, success-driven believer!

But the problem is, we don't know how to give up, let go, or hang on.
You see,

I don't want to give up my past life, my sins, my struggles, my pride, my "achievements." I don't want to really lose my life in order to gain whatever Christ wants to give me. I don't want to give up this toy for the cooler toy Jesus is offering me! Can't I have both?

And I really don't want to let go of my ministry, my life. God, you don't understand. I know you created me and all, but I think I should be holding the remote.

And why should I keep trying something that's so hard? Why should I keep pressing towards a life of holiness? Of godliness? I tried that. I missed my shots. I'll go back to my old games now.


But this isn't the mindset the Bible teaches us at all! Paul was a very "successful" Christian. He could say the he "achieved" spiritual knowledge, he could have basked in the fact that he had started so many churches, and he could have talked himself out of pursuing more ministry since he had so much on his plate already! But instead, Paul called himself the chief of sinners and was constantly pursuing fresh revelation; he didn't focus on what was done, but what needed to be done; and he fixed his eyes on God's will and not his own plans.

Brothers and Sisters, this is such an important concept. If we don't learn how to do this properly, we stunt our growth, hurt the body, and lose heavenly rewards. It's not worth that to hold onto our pride! We need to learn to give up our ideas of perfection, let go of our life plans, and press forward in faith for what God has in store! This is the path to Spiritual Maturity - realizing it doesn't end. Realizing we don't attain it. Realizing that following God is a life-long journey that isn't about winning or losing, it's about giving up!

So let's all give up our worldly pursuits in favor of heavenly rewards! Let's give up, let go, and hang on to the things God would have us to, and let's experience the growth and success of living a life according to the Spirit.

And Lord, enable me with your grace to discern if there is "anything in which I am otherwise minded" that you may mold me according to your Will in the name of Jesus!