A couple of weeks ago my family and I went to the beach. It was a hot day and the idea of playing in the water was quite appealing, so we loaded up the car and headed out for some sun and surf. After we arrived at the beach and transported enough equipment and survival supplies to set up a base camp that could serve a small army, it was finally time to get down to the business of having some fun. We excitedly waded out into the waves and proceeded to have one of the most fun-filled, joy-saturated times that we have had as a family in a long time. (The only drawback came within the next 24 hours as I discovered that there is an excellent reason why they invented sunscreen.)
The interesting thing is that I almost missed out on all of it. When the time came to actually go into the water I was faced with the decision to dive in with my girls or sit on the shore and watch everyone else have fun. The reason I hesitated was because I knew that the time had come to take my shirt off. Now, my struggle wasn’t moral. I’m not a prude and I seriously don’t think that taking my shirt off would cause anyone to struggle with lustful thoughts (insert joke here). My struggle was with pride. You see, the unfortunate side effect of working in an office was that my back and chest hadn’t seen the sun since the days when the Dead Sea was only sick. The beach was extremely crowded that day and I knew that I would probably burn a few retinas or possibly cause the creation of a new cult as people witnessed the “glowing entity” that came up out of the water. I knew that there would be people making snide comments about the man with paste-colored skin who showed up at the beach. Ultimately, I decided that diving in and making a memory with my family was worth a lot more than the opinions of people that I don’t know and will likely never see again. I’m glad I did.
Later, as I thought about that day, it occurred to me that there are similar moments that we face as followers of Christ. Think about it…we stand on the shore looking out over our Father’s vast ocean of grace, mercy, love, and power. We are faced with a decision as to whether or not we are going to stand on the shore as a spectator, or dive in and discover the fullness of joy that is found in Him. I think what keeps us from diving into His ocean is usually the same thing that nearly kept me from enjoying our day at the beach – pride. If we want to dive into to the sea of His love and grace, we have to take off the mask that’s hiding what’s underneath. We have to expose the parts of us that we spend so much time and effort trying to hide from everyone else.
For example, maybe you go to church and you’re dying inside – maybe some sin has eaten your lunch the past week, maybe you’re emotionally spent and battling depression, maybe your marriage is falling apart and no one knows, maybe you just feel far from God and you don’t even know why. You know that you need to dive into Jesus and find strength in the Holy Spirit, but in order to avoid embarrassment you don’t enter into worship, you don’t ask for prayer, and you don’t respond to the voice of God as He beckons you to come close to Him during the altar call.
Maybe it’s time to stop thinking about what everyone else thinks and just dive in. Maybe it’s time to stop worrying about what people will say and throw yourself onto His altar in absolute surrender. Maybe it’s time to stop swimming in the “kiddie” pool and jump into the deep waters of God. Maybe it’s time to discover the healing that only He can bring to the broken soul that relentlessly pursues intimacy with Christ. Maybe it’s time to stop playing church and start being the church. Maybe it’s time to experience the unspeakable joy of reckless abandonment to God.
On the day of our family’s trip to the beach, it only took about three seconds before I forgot about what others may have been thinking or saying. The joy I experienced assured me that I had made the right choice. If you’ve been standing on the shore in your relationship with Jesus, all I can say is, “Dive in!” You won’t be sorry.
