Shrinking Back

But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. 

For, “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.”

But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls. Hebrews 10:32-39, ESV

I once knew a very successful man who announced (since he could now afford it) he would no longer endure dull razor blades. The man could look like Paul Bunyan in two days, so his razors did indeed get a work out. Now, with success, a new razor blade was poised and ready in his medicine cabinet every day.

A famous television football analyst and former coach didn't like airplanes. Forced to fly as a coach, he negotiated the right and means for a private bus to travel to all of his games as a network football commentator. A new razor blade each day is a small thing; even a bus, in a bloated network budget, is a relatively small  thing. Truly for these men both were "necessary" things. The concessions came as rewards for hard work and success. As concessions beget more concessions, one can imagine there were more conveniences for both men as well. With success often comes a sense of entitlement--the thinking that one deserves certain considerations or "perks." Of course entitlement thinking can come from struggle and loss, too: because of a difficult life; perhaps because of one's lack of success, the thought or question of entitlement also can arise. In either case, the question of entitlement is, "Don't I deserve better?" 

Whether through success or hardship-- over time--one's tolerance for enduring difficulties erodes. It is easy to drift toward accumulating things or experiences that might make life better. Conversely, there is a growing aversion to discipline and privation, i.e., "doing without" or "making do." A growing list of  "needs" and a growing list of things one will "not put up with" begins to emerge. In effect, the perimeter of one's "comfort zone" (those things that make a person more comfortable) swells.

To be sure, some people experience very painful things,sometimes unimaginable and unbearable things, and bear the deep scars of significant emotional trauma. It is understandable in those cases if someone cannot revisit those experiences. Yet at the beginning of the passage above, the Scriptures identify some fairly traumatic difficulties that many experienced--and did so faithfully, and willingly. God's Word to us in Hebrews gently reminds,

Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. 

Confidence? Endurance? From things we don't ever want to experience again? How does that work? Well, we are warned that if we do not have those things we will be tempted to "shrink back."

"Shrinking back"--what does that look like? I sense the author of Hebrews is describing the behavior of withdrawing from the pain, struggles, and (frankly) the things we no longer wish to do. He describes the narrowing of one's outward focus and the enlarging of one's inward focus. That narrowing can be especially noticeable in regards to activities and attitudes involving faith.

The idea of "shrinking back"  was heard in the voice of Moses, Gideon and others who were frightened and initially overwhelmed by their calling. It was not present in the lives of people like David or Daniel. Yet, courageous faith became the legacy of anxious people like Abraham, Moses, Gideon, and Mary. "Shrinking back" is the legacy of bold Solomon when his heart turned to pleasures, politics, and acquiescence rather than the firm and uncomfortable convictions of faith.

Living by faith requires spiritual energy and as people get older the youthful (and often fleshly) bravado with which they once approached life's challenges is no longer available. PTL! The unguided and unbridled enthusiasm of youth has sometimes advanced causes that didn't need advancing. But for the present and the future, believers still need to advance God's Kingdom and will need the energy  that only comes by reconnecting anew with the power of the Spirit made possible by faith--a re-energized faith.

Who re-energizes? Only God. Only God (Phil 2:12,13). How does it happen?

And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end." And Mary said to the angel, "How will this be, since I am a virgin?"   Luke 1:30-34 ESV

Mary's question is revealing. She had just been told an incredible promise, and her question is "how?" To be sure, Mary was not just questioning the biology of the process. She was rightfully worried about the social ramifications of God's promise, too. Best case scenario, Mary believed she would be divorced and humiliated. Worst case? Death.

But Mary placed her life in God's hands. Perhaps frightened to the bone about her immediate future, she replied, "Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word (10: 38)."

As we race toward Christmas, well-intentioned people keep asking us what we need, what we want, or what gift would "make our Christmas!" The unfortunate result is a focus on gifting (rather than giving); sadly, we are guided and drawn to focus on ourselves--and our contentment goes out the window as our gaze is drawn to those things we believe we deserve and would make our lives so much better.

Let us reassert that Christmas is about giving, and about serving, and about honoring our Savior and doing all sacrificially. As believers let us ask ourselves if we are willing to keep walking by faith; are we willing to embrace our uncertainties with a bold and renewed trust of (or confidence in) God?

We can shrink back to self-made comforts; we can withdraw to more peaceable confines; we can push the demands of life out and crowd all the comforts we can afford in. We can say "no" more and "yes" to just those few things we trust to be comfortable. In doing so, we will shrink away from the life God called, designed, and hoped for us.

The Bible is filled with heroes (like Mary) who said "yes" to very frightful things. Not surprisingly, since they were responding to God's calling, those frightful things became the greatest blessings in their lives.