I have “dabbled” in water aerobics over the years at various
locations and just recently began anew at a retreat center practically out my
back door! The class of mostly older
ladies is small, but the pool is a nice size with one of the long walls made entirely
of windows. This wall of white light
showcases the view of grass and evergreens just outside and toward the back
area of the property. If you are
picturing a soothing and peaceful setting, you are on the right track.
Water in its
varied presentations in nature and man-made forms has always attracted me. Perhaps looking out over stretches of rivers,
lakes and oceans makes me feel more connected to God as our creator. In the rushing falls of Niagara to the quiet
beauty of a hidden cove, I sense God’s greatness and soothing power.
But I
digress--back to the present and aerobics.
This last exercise class as I exited on the steps in the shallow end of
the pool, I became aware of feeling so much heavier, especially in moving my
legs which are fairly stiff. Water does
have a freeing element, it seems. One
feels lighter and stronger, enabled in ways that our usual experience of
gravity prevents. In other words, I felt
very “weighed down” stepping out one slow step at a time.
As I thought
on this, I was reminded of a verse in Hebrews, one I have appreciated in
various ways over the years. “ . . . let
us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us
run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith” (Heb. 12:1,2).
Clearly, sin in its various forms from actual deeds to wrong and
stubbornly willful words and intentions
impedes our ability to stay on the faithful and believing course that God calls
us to. At the root of this whole issue
of faith and obedience is the condition of our hearts, hearts that can turn
toward God and walk with Him but even then fall victim to unbelief.
Consider these words written for
believers: “Beware, brothers lest there
be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God,”
(Heb. 3:12). We need that ongoing
presence of the Holy Spirit. We need to
be listening to God’s still, small voice, humbly acknowledging how dependent we
are on God for what only He can give:
faith, hope and love in the midst of life’s difficulties. Jesus describes this infilling presence as a
life abiding in the true vine, adding that “without Me, you can do nothing”
(John 15:5).
The story of Lazarus is such a great
illustration of the good will and power of God even when it appears that the entreaties and prayers of the dead man’s
sisters, Martha and Mary, have been of no avail. Their brother is dead, sealed off in a cold
tomb by the time Jesus arrives. Martha
even tells Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died”
(John 11:21). But her very next words
suggest a remnant of hope: “But even
now, I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give you” (11:22). Jesus then tells her that despite the
appearance of things, her brother will “live again.”
She could have remained angry and
resentful. She could have avoided Jesus
all together since He didn’t save her brother. He didn’t come soon enough to really make a
difference in the progression of the disease.
She, however, remains engaged with Jesus, taking in what He is saying to
her, including this claim and an accompanying question: “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he
shall live . . . Do you believe this?” (15:25,26). And when Martha worries about the stench that
will come from the tomb when Jesus asks that the stone be moved away, Jesus
asks the same question another way. “Did
I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?”
(11:40).
Jesus knew the end of this story from
the beginning. When He first heard that
Lazarus was sick, He said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory
of God that the Son of God may be glorified through it” (15:4). During Jesus’s earthly life, He often told
the disciples what would be happening in the future. He told them about his death and the coming
of the Holy Spirit “before it comes, that when it comes to pass, you may
believe” (John 14:29).
This life that can be lived apart
from the weight and entanglements of sin and beyond the limits of our very real
unbelief is possible only “by faith” as it was to those who have come before
us. Many, many times since I first was
struck by the central question Jesus asks these grieving sisters, I have heard
that still, small voice of God beckoning me, also, to believe in the overcoming
power of God—no matter what.
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