Bait Shop Wall 2 – Swim In a School or With a Buddy
When you think about that bait store I wonder if the buddies of the fish miss him. I know right now you’re thinking I need a few more hobbies so I don’t sit around thinking about fish missing each other. I mean was there a fish near him that kept warning him about that lure…about going to that part of the lake…swimming with that school of fish? I don’t hang around with fish so I’m not sure how it works other than some hints from Disney movies.
Hopefully you are still reading even though that last paragraph is a bit out there. I do know that if we are going to stay off the bait shop wall we need to remember that we are better together than we are alone. A wise man from a long time ago wrote these words for us to think about.
“Two people are better than one, because they get more done by working together. If one falls down, the other can help him up. But it is bad for the person who is alone and falls, because no one is there to help. If two lie down together, they will be warm, but a person alone will not be warm. An enemy might defeat one person, but two people together can defend themselves; a rope that is woven of three strings is hard to break.” Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 (NCV)
What does it mean for us to swim together? Let’s take a minute and see how we can swim together and stay off of someone’s Polaroid picture.
We Listen Without Judging & Pray Like Crazy
When it comes to being there for each other we need to first understand the amazing role God lets us play in each other’s lives. I believe forgiveness comes from God. When we confess to him it is for forgiveness of our sins. I don’t ask someone to forgive me for my sins so that I’m right with God. I ask them so that I’m right with them. I go to God for eternal forgiveness of my sins. Then James the brother of Jesus throws this thought at us in James 5:16. “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so God can heal you. When a believing person prays, great things happen.” To confess in this verse means to acknowledge or speak my sins.
James encourages us to speak or confess them to each other. Weird thing is that James says that is where healing starts. When we realize that we are only as healthy as our worst secret do we begin to understand the importance of confessing to someone else? It is not necessarily for forgiveness, but for healing. When someone else understands us, do we not have to hide anymore or sneak around to cover our tracks. The important part is that when someone comes to us and confesses that we don’t judge, but we pray for them and check on them to make sure they are doing better. Our part is helping them heal from their setback and start again.
We Offer Help to Those Who Need It
You may be thinking that you may not want to hear about other people’s worst days or acts. I know what you mean; I have plenty of people that tell me things at different times that make me shake my head. So when we really think through the fact that someone trusts us enough to pour their heart out we need to realize the risk they are taking. We need to offer our help to them and keep it quiet. Paul encouraged us in Romans 14:19 with these words: “So let us try to do what makes peace and helps one another.”
So we help them find some peace and help them. It means we get them the help they need if it is water that is too deep for us to swim with them. The best thing we can realize at times is when we are in too deep. Some things that people confess to us are too deep. As a “professional” I really watch to make sure that I don’t let someone drown because I think I can help them. My pride cannot get in the way of someone’s recovery or peace. It can with you either. Make sure you get your friends the help they need and to bring peace to their lives.
Those friends we can help then we help them, by not just telling them they can or will do better. We help them by holding them accountable to change their actions and by changing their actions change their lives. I often ask people before they tell me anything if they are just saying something or do they truly want help overcoming what has them hooked. We get a chance to help someone pull a hook or choose a different pond to swim in and help them avoid the bait shop wall all together.
Remember We Are All Swimming Together
The thing we need to all remember is simply one thing. The grace we are looking for today, should be the grace we shared yesterday with someone else. Jesus shared his thoughts on swimming together. Matthew wrote it down for us in chapter 7:12: “Here is a simple, rule-of-thumb guide for behavior: Ask yourself what you want people to do for you, then grab the initiative and do it for them. Add up God’s Law and Prophets and this is what you get.”
The simple rule is that you do for someone else what you would want someone to do for you. If we all lived our lives knowing that tomorrow we will be the one trying to spit a hook and looking for someone to throw us a little help. I know this more than anything. I have watched it over and over again in the 50 plus years I’ve been on this plant, when we judge something in someone else that thing finds its way into our lives. That is why we need to offer grace first and foremost with each person we have in our lives. Only after grace can we begin to help them and swim with them through their journey.
The old advice we were told as kids is still true as adults. Never swim alone. Always swim with a buddy. Some temptations are deeper and stronger currents than we can handle alone. Find someone to swim with you so that you both survive. We are not meant to face some lures and hooks on our own. I pray you have that one good friend who will tell you the truth no matter what it costs.