Leave it at the Door

I am currently listening to and reading Goliath Must Fall by Louie Giglio. This is an amazing book and I encourage you to read or listen to it (or both). So much spoke to me in this book, but the focus of this particular blog is on leaving our giants at the door.

Let me set the stage for just a moment so you can get the full picture (for the complete story read 1 Samuel 17). Enter on the stage Goliath. He was a really big guy with really heavy armor; about 125 pounds of armor. He came out EVERY morning and EVERY evening and taunted not only the Israelites, but their God. Every day. Twice a day. Forty days. Are you getting the picture? He was relentless. He didn't take a day off. He didn't take a vacation. He didn't give up.

Put yourself in this scene. Only you don't have an actual, physical giant, but your giant is no less powerful and relentless. Louie goes into depth on these giants: fear, rejection, comfort, anger and addiction. Any of these hit home? More than one, you say? How are you doing with your giant? Have you beat it or them?

Let's relate to the Israelites. The Israelites came out every day, twice a day and faced Goliath. As soon as he came out they ran in fright. Louie says this is what some churches look like today.

"We gather each Sunday and lift up powerful anthems of worship to our God. That's our war cry. We position ourselves for battle. We claim the victory. We might even shut down the Devil. But then that's as far as we ever get. When the Sunday service is over, the same giant steps up and defies the power of God to keep us and save us and transform us. For a lot of us, we settle into a dual existence, a schizophrenic faith. One part of us fully believes in the rule and reign of Jesus, confident he is able to change things for the better. The other part of us accommodates the 'pet tiger,' caves into the giant and lives in the valley of defeat."

This is the picture that popped into my mind when I listened to this part. Have you seen the commercial for Mybetriq (if you haven't take just a minute to watch it on YouTube. I am not promoting this medicine, I just want you to pay attention to the bladder character).

So, I pictured my giant(s) as that bladder character, bossing me around and dragging me places I didn't want to go. On Sunday it goes to church with me, but I leave it at the door, go in and worship (my battle cry) and then come back out and give it permission to take my hand again. My vision went even further as I pictured a lot of these creatures hanging outside the church waiting for God's children to come back out and give them permission to go with them once again and taunt not only them, but our GOD.

Guess what? We don't have to give them that permission. Jesus has defeated our Giants. He did this on the Cross. Recognizing that a giant who has been taunting us is defeated is not easy, but just know this: it has already been defeated and while we are learning to "leave it at the door" Jesus is walking with us. We don't just have to be held in His hand while we are in church. He is with us always.