fit / fight / flight
fit / fight / flight
good news weekly 8.5.23
thanks for your grace to bless kristen + i in taking a month away from this space. we are anticipating a great fall season ahead together.
THIS SUNDAY
we are collecting felt markers to help our friends from the POC (partners for our communities) send our whole community back to style ready
our teen crew is launching off at 10.45a w. a cook-out afterward. going to be a wonderful time, would love to have your 6th - 12th grader with us.
fit / fight / flight
“i just don’t even know how to live in this world anymore.”
at the moment i uttered this sentence in late july while on summer vacation, i had a bunch of things rolling around in my head:
the crazy attire of the people while walking down the Vegas strip my teenage boys were seeing during family vacation
our families 1st close-up experience with a gender-non-conforming child last school year
a young woman who had recently described to me her church-going dutiful family of origin as abusive
the death of young man i cared about who was a victim and participant in the cycle of opioids demolishing young men in our country
i have my faith, that i have believed since childhood. i have my experiences which sometimes shift my childhood faith. how can i honor my faith and be a positive part of a confusing world?
i see three common categories: Fit, Flight, and Fight. although they have the pithy benefit of starting with the same letter, each represents the mindset of many people of faith i have known.
Fit represents a desire to infiltrate the dark world from the inside, gently serving others, and establishing common ground to share the gospel message. This approach advocates for adaptable engagement, as exemplified in 1 Corinthians 9:19-23, where Paul describes his desire to change his behavior and approach how necessary to achieve his goals, culminating with
“I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.”
the inherent danger is obvious. it is far too easy to BECOME the thing you wish to see change in others. some who work too hard to fit are no longer distinguished in their behavior enough to meaningful influence those around them.
Flight signifies the removal from worldly influences. with an emphasis on holy living and the nuclear family, this stance highlights the importance of spiritual warfare over earthly concerns. this path resonates with Romans 12:2 and 2 Corinthians 6:14, advocating for the transformation of the mind and avoiding unequally yoked partnerships. however, while Flight strives for purity, it often struggles to fulfill the Great Commission, potentially promoting self-righteousness over compassion.
Fight revolves around challenging the world through the battle between good and evil. it embraces towards political and cultural engagement, refusing to accept the temporary victories of evil in this world. Ephesians 6:10-11 bolsters this stance, calling for strength in the Lord and his might. yet, the struggle with the Fight mentality is that its tactics can often appear unloving or harsh, and it might forget the ultimate victory belongs to Jesus, not us.
navigating to Faithful, which is the perfect combination is our target. know when + how is challenging which is why we need the Holy Spirit. i will be speaking extensively around this theme from 2 Peter this fall … there is lots to ponder, but for today, i wonder if keeping these 3 concepts close to your mind might help you understand the people around you.
those who have an instinct towards flight tend to avoid.
those who have an instinct towards fight tend to speak up.
those who have an instinct towards fit tend to absorb.
always right sometimes, never right all the time … anyway, more soon :)
One of my favorite places to visit in the summer is the local pool with my kids. This year feels especially sweet because all four of our children can swim without me getting into the water. (hallelujah!!!!) One of the days I was at the pool was a weekend when there were a ton of people at the pool but not a lot of regulars. As I sat in my pool chair I watched the lifeguards do their job but in a way that seemed more profound than it had before. You see, there was a family there that had put the little floatie devices that we used when I was a kid, if you aren’t familiar with them, they are the ones that you blew up and there was one on each arm. What they have discovered in the last few decades is that those floating devices haven’t proved to work every.single.time. We’ve all heard those stories of drowning that could have been prevented by something so simple; after all, it’s life or death in the balance. Because of that they have decided that every time someone comes to the pool and is wearing that type of floating device, the lifeguards that are stationed in the pool will radio to the head lifeguard to get a life jacket for the child and come over to the parent and say to them that their child can’t stay in the unless they use the life jacket provided.
As I sat there I was ministered to, I had tears streaming down my face. This is what Jesus did for me, this is what Jesus did for you. He saw your deep need for him because of the sin that was in your life and he made a way through a perfectly lived life that led to death on a cross and the resurrection of His life three days later. Not only that but He orchestrated an order of events in your and my life that allowed us to come to know that truth personally.
Even after we have come to know that truth and choose to live for him we can come to a moment when we succumb to our own devices. Usually before too long we recognize that they don’t work. But, we can often use that as an excuse to say that God is far away when really that is us allowing the noise and chaos in our world to crowd out the avenues we have heard him speak through in the past. I love the truth that God can see you in those moments of struggle before you’re even having difficulty and he wants you to know that he doesn’t just want you to have that figurative life vest of salvation on so that you don’t drown but so that you don’t struggle so much in the day in and day out of life.
Colossians 1:13-14 says it perfectly: “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.“ .
This has me begging myself three questions. When did God rescue you? Who did he use in your life to show you this powerful truth? Secondly, Are there any faulty devices that you have been leaning on instead of God in your life? Lastly, who are we sharing the blessing of being rescued with? Some of these questions may be more difficult to answer than others, but sometimes sitting right there helps you to recognize where growth is needed in your life.
Last Sunday Sermon Video
Saturday Morning Book Review
boys from biloxi - john grisham
i have been best selling legal thrillers since i was a teenager. there is probably no more reliable author at giving the people what they want. this book is one of his best. riveting characters and a dynamic plot are the typical Grisham specialties, but this book adds something new.
a deep look at how our upbringing shapes our direction adds depth. this book doesn’t rely on dramatic plot twists, rather it’s plot moves forward to sturdy inevitability. a really great vacation read.
this is good news,
luke + kristen
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