Taking the Next Hill

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I don’t know about you, but I am the type of person who needs a challenge or a hill to climb to get motivated.  I have found this to be true in both my professional and personal life and now I find it true in my spiritual life.  In my professional life I love coming into a challenging situation with the odds stacked against me.  Many times in these situations whatever task is at hand is not the popular choice with the masses.  So, I typically find myself swimming against the current of the mainstream.  These types of situations usually require confronting the current culture or environment that is already embedded in a work situation.  To me, I see this as a hill; it motivates me, keeps me engaged and challenges me to work hard, set goals and see the changes that take place slowly over time.  I have experienced this several times in my career and it is not a quick fix.  It takes both time and I remaining constantly engaged to see it through.  Staying constantly engaged is the key to success in this situation.  With my personality and the need to “take” the hill it is not difficult to stay engaged. 

My problem lies in the valley after the hill has been taken. I find it hard to stay engaged at the same level or with the same intensity I did during the battle to take the hill. I am constantly looking for the next hill to keep myself motivated and operating at a high level. This same work related habit follows me into my spiritual life. As long as I have a hill to climb, a talk to present or some other larger scale item, it is easy for me to stay engaged. I spend time weeks leading up to the hill in prayer, the bible and quality time with Him. However, once the hill is taken I struggle to approach my quiet time with the same intensity or excitement that I did as I approached the hill. Now I am in the valley, and the routine of life and it is hard to stay engaged at a high level.

Guess what? This time in the valley is where God shapes me and builds my character for the times when I need to take the hill. He does not shape and stretch me on the hill that is only temporary. He shapes me during those long valley stretches in the mundane routine’s of life and daily interactions with people. It is in the small conflicts of daily life on the job, at home or at church that He refines us and our true character of Christ is shaped and revealed. I have to admit I am guilty of not taking these “valley” times seriously and only look for the next hill or challenge. What an opportunity I am missing by over looking these times! I guess it would be helpful for me to go back and reread my own devotional on “Preparing for Opportunity Before it Comes”.

Jesus took a hill for me. The hill he took for me, unfolded on a hill called Golgotha, Place of the Skull. (See Mathew 27:32-65 at the bottom of this posting for more details.) Prior to Jesus conquering this hill and death, he was in the “valley”, the routine of life reaching out to sinners, lost people and hurting people. It was during these times that He was able to focus solely on individuals who needed a Savior. The book of John is full of examples of how Jesus reached out to people and showed us the perfect example of how we should act during the “valleys” we experience when we grow as Christians. He reached out to everyone and did not discriminate based on their past failures, history or their ethnic origin. He truly was in the business of changing lives. He changed them from a hill for all to see and He changed them in the valley during one-on-one encounters.

Do I truly surrender all to Him even when I am in the routine of life without a hill to take? Probably not like I should. If I want to be of more value to God, I need to learn to be just as intense, deliberate and moldable in the valley as I am during the battle of taking the next hill.

Mathew 27: 32-65

The Crucifixion
 32As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross. 33They came to a place called Golgotha (which means The Place of the Skull). 34There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it. 35When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots.[a] 36And sitting down, they kept watch over him there. 37Above his head they placed the written charge against him: THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS. 38Two robbers were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. 39Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads 40and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!”
 41In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. 42″He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the King of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. 43He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ ” 44In the same way the robbers who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.
The Death of Jesus
 45From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. 46About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi,[b] lama sabachthani?”—which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”[c]
 47When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He’s calling Elijah.”
 48Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a stick, and offered it to Jesus to drink. 49The rest said, “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.”
 50And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.
 51At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. 52The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. 53They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus’ resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people.
 54When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son[d] of God!”
 55Many women were there, watching from a distance. They had followed Jesus from Galilee to care for his needs. 56Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons.
The Burial of Jesus
 57As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. 58Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. 59Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, 60and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away. 61Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb.
The Guard at the Tomb
 62The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. 63″Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ 64So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.”
 65″Take a guard,” Pilate answered. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.”

March 28, 2008 · Filed Under Devotionals, Misc

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