In the midst of a hellacious heat wave in SoCal, where something like 8 out of 10 days broke 100 degrees, the weather predictor delivered a message from God: Temecula would likely hit 107, and the nearby beach city of Carlsbad would be 80. My interpretation: a beach day! So an early lunch at the Daily News Café led to the sand—with appropriate social distancing (except for family units). I especially enjoyed watching some young kids.
One group included a mom and four sons who strolled down to the water. As the remnants of the first wave approached, the three-year-old retreated in a dash to safety. The others, about five to seven, stood their ground as the water rushed around them. Yeah, they’d sometimes get knocked head over heels, but giggled and grinned as they stood up. But half a dozen boys, maybe nine to eleven and 80 ft to the north, gave a different story. These guys attacked the waves with their body boards, running into the water and out to the break. That’s them in the pic.
And I got the beach lesson: a metaphor for how we face hard times and temptations. Sometimes, our best option is retreat to avoid defeat, “God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure” (1 Corinthians 10:13). We may not win the battle, but we survive. Like Joseph when tempted by his boss’ wife.
Other times we stand our ground. We don’t retreat, we hang in and take the blows, “stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong” (1 Corinthians 16:13). We have enough strength to deal with it and don’t let the power of our waves intimidate us. We stand against a secular culture and avoid compromising biblical values. But sometimes, we neither retreat nor stand firm, but we attack. Jesus told his followers his church would be built on the reality of him as the Messiah, the Son of God, “I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it” (Matthew 16:18).
A fascinating picture. Gates are defensive and not mobile. And those gates cannot defeat the church when it confronts Satan and evil and unbelief. Like China. When the government imprisoned and killed Christian leaders and the church seemed doomed, it grew exponentially.
How do we determine which strategy is appropriate? Ah, there’s the rub! We use our experiences—good and bad. We gauge our spiritual maturity, in light of the specific case. We get wise counsel. And we rely on the prompting of the Holy Spirit.
A variety of strategies, a beach lesson from young boys. All valid. All biblical. All ours.
Kick Starting the Application
How do you determine which strategy? Have you used all of them, or focus on one or two? What does this suggest about your walk with Jesus? Which do you need to increase?