Tug of war

I have no idea what brought tug of war to mind this morning. My kids used to love to play. We played countless games of it at beach camp with students. I always hated playing. The rope burned my hands. My arms grew tired. Losing and getting dragged across the ground or sand was not my idea of fun. 

The Christian life can be a lot like tug of war. We get burned by people. Our arms grow tired of serving and giving. Sometimes we feel like we are losing ground and we get dragged around, bruised, scarred and bleeding. Sometimes we drag others. At times we hold firm and we even catch other people's slack. And other times they catch ours. Hopefully we aren't the slackers all the time. But we need others to walk through life with us. To sometimes catch our slack or pick us up or heal our wounds. And we need to do that for others. We don't always need to be the one who needs lifting, we need to do our share of lifting. Sometimes we feel those on our team let us down and costs us a victory. But here's truth we can always rely on...God will never slack on us! His arms never grow tired. He won't burn us and He won't cost us victory. He will always pick us up and heal our wounds. He will always want us on His team. We can always count on Him. He's no slacker. Deuteronomy 7:9 says "Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the FAITHFUL God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations." Isn't that the best news?! If you read on vs 10 says that he will not be slack with one who hates him. He will never slack. He will keep his covenant with those who love him and he will repay those who hate him. He's never slack in any way. He is just and righteous and faithful. May we be faithful. May we not be caught slacking as we love Him and serve Him by loving and serving others. We see in the call of Saul of Tarsus when he asked Saul why he was persecuting Him that He takes it very personally when hurt comes to His own. Saul was persecuting believers. And Jesus said he was persecuting Him in doing that. Let's not be guilty of causing that hurt. Let's be faithful and hold our end of the rope and help those along the way who have been hurt or struggling in the tug of war of life.