Get there faster
It’s the famous scene in Back to the Future where Marty is about to play electric guitar at the school dance. “All right, guys, listen. This is a blues riff in B. Watch me for the changes, and try and keep up, okay?” I talked to a non-musician friend about this quote and he claimed that surely that’s not real, surely you couldn’t play an entire song just by hearing that spoken line. I assured him it was and you could indeed play an entire song based on that famous line from the movie. But, here’s the rub—you’ve got to get there fast. You have to know what it means and you have to have the reps in place to be able to play it.
Yes, you can take a shot with a rifle, but can you acquire the target and take an accurate shot in under two seconds? (A must for coyote hunters.)
As a Christian, there is the incredibly audacious command to “rejoice always.” And “in all circumstances, give thanks.” Some people see circumstances and despair and disappointment and never quite get there. They stall out for minutes, days, years. But a sign of spiritual maturity is that you get there faster. Spiritual maturity can be measured by the speed at which you arrive at rejoicing. For a minute, you can wallow in self-pity and confusion, but you won’t be allowed to go to the next level until you learn to “rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances”. But can you get there faster? Like an IQ test—Yes, you can find the answer, but can you find it fast? Like a NFL player—Yes, you can run the route, but can you do it in the blink of an eye?
Those verses in I Thessalonians are an imperative, a command.
If we believe what we believe, the time to rejoice is now. The audacious claim to “rejoice always.”
And it’s not Pollyanna optimism. It is, apparently, a real process that any clear-eyed saint can partake in.
Think about your day when you encounter car problems, plumbing problems or the flu—How quickly can you arrive at rejoicing? (The FLU??! Seriously??).
If it’s true, it’s true for the flu.
Get there faster.