Learning to Walk

Last week we talked about thankfulness and had our church thanksgiving meal. We talked about giving thanks in everything, and I began by reading from 1 Thess 5, a passage I intend to use again today.

1 Thessalonians 5:11–22 NASB95

Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing. But we request of you, brethren, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you, and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction, and that you esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Live in peace with one another. We urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone. See that no one repays another with evil for evil, but always seek after that which is good for one another and for all people. Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit; do not despise prophetic utterances. But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil.

Last week I referred to this as the list of impossible things. Yet it is possible to find something to be thankful for in everything, in every situation. It is possible to pray without ceasing. After all, prayer is communicating with God and God is always with us and we are never out of his sight or out of his presence. All we lack to pray without ceasing is to stop ignoring him. There is never a time when he is not present or a time when he does not hear us. In fact it would logically be easier to pray without ceasing than to try to not communicate with God in some fashion.

Rejoice always, we have all had days when it seemed like we were on top of the world. We have all rejoiced for a time so we can imagine rejoicing without ceasing. In fact any of these things we could imagine doing for a time. It is most likely that you have done all of these things for a time. The problem is that we have a hard time keeping it up.

We start our rejoicing, or praying, or being thankful and then life happens and before we know it we have been derailed. We stop rejoicing, and praying, and being thankful and all the rest. So we think this is what we are supposed to do and we blew it. We were on a roll and it seemed like everything was going great until all of the sudden it wasn’t. We have failed.

So what do you do when you have failed. What do you do when you have blown it? Do you give up, do you Quit, do you just sit down and cry?

Before you answer let me ask you another question. How many of you walked into this building today? Most of you didn’t even have to think about it, you just walked in. Some of you may not walk as well or as easily as you once did. I can think of some people I know who have to walk carefully because they stumble more than they used to. I know some folks who have to stop and rest more often now than they did before their health started to fail. I even know a few who can’t walk on their own anymore. But you all got here. None of you looked down at your legs and said this walking thing isn’t working out I guess I will just have to stay home and sit here in the floor for the rest of my life.

In fact if you could remember it I imagine that all of you at one time had to learn to walk and I have never seen a baby that just stood up and walked perfectly the first time. They fall a lot and they crawl a lot, they stumble over things and get knocked down. They struggle and stumble until their legs learn what to do and their brain learns how to communicate with their body. They don’t stand up one time, fall down on their diaper and decide well, it looks like this walking thing just isn’t for me. We would never let them do that, walking is too important. So is your christian walk. It requires the same effort and the same stubborn will to overcome that physical walking takes to learn.

Show clip of baby learning to walk.

Did you notice how that baby needed a lot of help and encouragement. It took a lot of effort and several tries of a period of time to get it down. Even at the end of the video she still wobbled a little, there was still room for improvement. Even once she has it down injuries happen and we have to learn to limp or walk on crutches, if you live long enough parts start to wear out and you have to modify you walking again.

My wife had a knee replacement and it took some professional help, some special exercises and some extra effort to get back to walking again. It is the same with our spiritual walk, maybe that is why we call it a walk in the first place.

Maybe that is why the preamble to this passage is that we should encourage one another and lift one another up. We need help and support from each other just like that baby had the help of her parents and her siblings. You may have noticed in the video that some of the help didn’t seem to have worked out as well as it did at other times, that’s how life is.

We need that help and that support. Verse 12 says we should appreciate those who labor among us and have charge over us and give us instruction. Sometimes that is hard to do and sometimes the helpers struggle and stumble but we all need the help. I have seen two doddering old people helping each other to get around.;

I have seen a husband who could barely stand up come over and take his wife’s hand to help her down a step, as he stood their holding on to his wife his whole body shook, he was bent over at the waist and he trembled with the effort of standing himself. I went to support him because I was afraid that he would fall over at any minute but there he was standing with his arm extended to help his beloved wife down a step. He probably wasn’t the best form of help imaginable but he was there.

When life knocks you down it is easy to just sit down and cry. We have all seen toddlers do it when they fall, they get frustrated and irritated or just plain mad and they sit down and scream their frustration to the world, so what do we do, we help them up and encourage them to give it another try.

When things go wrong in our lives it is easy to lose our joy. It is natural to want to get back at the world. When we feel that way we don’t want to rejoice, we don’t want to pray or be thankful or look for the good in things, we want to scream our frustration to the world and get some of our own back.

Thanksgiving is coming and Christmas is not far behind it. Some of you may become discouraged and frustrated because you can’t be with the people you want to be with or because they can’t be with you. You may feel alone and lost because your family is not near. Then again some of you may feel frustrated because your family is there.

Whatever your particular circumstances I can grantee you one thing. Just like that baby trying to lean to walk you are going to fall down a few times. Not everything is going to go they way you want it to. Everything won’t be as easy as you would like.

I am quite sure that there will be someone whose path you cross between now and the new year who will make it hard for you to live in peace withe everyone or to be patient with everyone. Some person or situation will make it easy for you to stop wanting good for everyone and want to someone to get what they have coming to them.

At some point you will probably reach a point where you are not rejoicing or praying or giving thanks. At that point you are not listening to the holy spirit and you are not looking for the Good because you have had it.

At that point, at that very moment you are like that little toddler who is learning to walk and you have lost your balance and fallen right on the padded part of your diaper with a resounding plop.

Now it is decision time, it is time to find out what you are really made of, it is a test of character. Do you just sit there or do you give it another try. Do you wallow in your misery and decide that walking is just not for you and you are going to sit there on your pampers and whatever is in them or do you get up and try try again.

Now is when it really counts. Maybe you need a brother or sister to help you up and help you out. Maybe you need a teacher, someone who has been there, a mom, a dad, a grandma, or just a friend who can say come on, get up, give it another try, you can do it.

You fall a lot when you are just learning to walk, its kind of expected. But sometimes even when you think you have mastered the skill you step wrong, or your foot finds a whole, or maybe your knee gives way, It could even be that someone else knocks you down. So how many times do you get back up.

How many times can you sin, forget to be thankful, forget to rejoice for all God has given you. How many times can you ignore God and put other things first, how many times can you look for evil instead of good and wish that what happened to you would happen to them instead of wanting good for everyone. How many times can you do the exact opposite of everything on this list and still have a chance to start again. How many times can you get up, dust yourself off and try it again.......one more time. How many times will God forgive your sin and offer you another chance, another opportunity to get up off the cushony part of your anatomy and walk straight.

How many? Once more my friend, once more. Every time you fall God offers you one more chance to stand up and be counted, one more change to stand on your own two feet, one more chance to walk the line and be who God made you to be. When something knocks you down in life and you have to decide what to do about it. Remember that little toddler who got up time after time after time, are you as brave as a toddler. Are you willing to try again. God is reaching his hand down to you right now and offering you another chance.

Get up, and get going. Pray, rejoice, give thanks, hold on to the good, spread the good around, do all of these things. And if you blow it, even a toddler knows what to do, get up, dust yourself off, and try try again.