From Shadows to Substance

Young at Heart Message

Did you know that I used to be a magician?

At least, people thought I was a magician.

When I trained dogs professionally, people expected me to be able to wave my magic wand and fix their dog immediately.
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If someone was having a hard time getting their dog to stop jumping, they wanted me to tell them the ONE thing that, without fail, would work to get their dog to stop jumping in one session.
 
What’s more, people didn’t want to do any work with their dogs, either.
 
For example, if I got hired to do private training for someone whose dog was getting into the garbage or counter surfing regularly, people wanted me to fix their dog.
 
They didn’t like that my response was they needed to change their dog’s environment. Remove the temptation of the garbage or the food on the counters, and your dog will stop getting into those things.
 
But, at the end of the day, people just didn’t want to be inconvenienced.
 
They wanted me to come in with my magic wand, wave it, say “bibbity bobbity boo,” and voila! They would have a perfect dog.
 
I recently started volunteering at a local animal rescue.
 
In conversation with the person who was showing me the ropes, she said the biggest challenge they have in adopting out puppies is that people expect them to be potty trained.
 
I experienced the same thing as a trainer. People wanted a perfectly house trained 12-week-old puppy.
 
A being that has been in this world for 3 months is not going to be potty trained, period. We wouldn’t expect this of a 3-month-old baby, either.
 
No magic wand in the world will change that.
 
We have become a society of “quick fixes” and instant gratification. If it takes much work, many people don’t even want to try.
 
I imagine that other professionals experience this same mindset:
 
·       Personal trainers: people want to workout once or twice and have a perfectly toned and muscular body.
·       Doctors/weight loss specialists: people want to eat right for a week and see instant results. When they don’t, they will often give up and say it’s not working.
·       Teachers/coaches: Even I experience this! I want to learn French TODAY. Not in 10 years of practice and language immersion!
 
Believe me, if I had a magic wand that could bring instant results and immediately fix a dog’s problems, I would be rich.
 
And, of course we know that TV, movies, and media don’t help matters.
 
“Lose weight fast with this one weird trick!”
 
“How to have a perfect dog in three simple steps.”
 
“Build muscle with this no-hassle, 30-minute workout plan!”
 
No wonder we want professionals with magic wands.
 
We’ve been led to believe that they exist.
 
So, the last thing people wanted to hear me say was that dog training would be a process, there was no quick fix no matter what the TV personalities will lead you to believe, and you (the owner) have to put some skin in the game.
 
I had many a client do one or two training sessions and call it quits when I didn’t pull the wand out.
 
In these situations, what professionals can offer are tools.
 
Personal trainers, dog trainers, and even doctors and other helping professions can provide tools to help people do what they need or want to do.
 
But those tools don’t include magic wands. If you want to see results, you need to use the tools and do the work.
 
And, once you know how, it’s your job to go and do.
 
The Message
 
And this is what our scripture reading for today is getting at.
 
“You received Christ Jesus, the Master; now live him… You know your way around the faith. Now do what you’ve been taught. School’s out; quit studying the subject and start living it!”
 
In other words, no one is going to do it for you. There’s no magic wand. You have the tools you need to live out your faith, so hop to it!
 
This is just like when I would go to a client’s house and tell them to put their garbage somewhere that their dog can’t get it and clear the food off the counters to stop them from counter surfing.
 
The client has the tools they need. Now they need to do it.
 
This scripture is telling us the same thing with regard to faith. We have the tools we need – we’ve been given our instruction. The only thing left to do is use it.
 
The scripture goes on to say that we should “watch out for people who try to dazzle you with big words and intellectual double talk… They want to drag you off into endless arguments that never amount to anything.”
 
Does that sound familiar?
 
Sounds like many a conversation with family or friends who disagree on politics, doesn’t it?
 
We live in a world of endless arguments that never amount to anything.
 
It’s interesting that even 2000 years ago, people were wrestling with the same issues.
 
The reading I chose today was from The Message version of the Bible, which is admittedly put into very contemporary language, so it reads as though someone wrote it yesterday.
 
But that doesn’t change the essence of what the author is saying. They also expected quick fixes and knew that arguing didn’t really amount to anything in the end.
 
The author goes on to say, “you don’t need a telescope, a microscope, or a horoscope to realize the fullness of Christ, and the emptiness of the universe without him. His power extends over everything.”
 
Followed by, “entering into this fullness is not something you figure out or achieve… No, you’re already in – insiders.”
 
This is another way of saying you already have the tools, so if you’re looking for something more, there isn’t anything more. Christ is it.
 
We live in a world where we are bombarded by powers that feel out of our control, so even though we have the tool we need, we are still tempted to seek out ideologies, political parties, or the powers of wealth, control, or progress.
 
But these things are not grounded in Christ.
 
It is easy for us to buy into new ideas or systems of belief that are flashy, trendy, or appear to offer quick and easy solutions.
 
This passage recognizes how easy it is for us to fall into these traps. It isn’t reprimanding us per se.
 
Instead, the passage is an invitation to “go back to basics,” remembering that Christ has already died for us, destroying the power of sin.
 
It is a reminder that we already have the tools we need, so seeking out quick fixes isn’t necessary.
 
And I know that often this doesn’t feel helpful.
 
In these days of political division, social upheaval, economic uncertainty, communal instability, and ecological degradation, we may, like the Colossian community, find ourselves tempted to buy into the promises of flashy ideologies, self-help theories, or quick solutions.
 
We may believe that what we have is not enough to respond to the rising pressures of the time.
 
But the invitation extended by the author of Colossians is to resist such temptation and engage such chaotic times by remembering the power of our baptism.
 
We are invited to lean into the faith that was gifted and taught to us by our ancestors, and ground ourselves in Christ. We are already insiders.
 
As our passage states, “When you come to him, that fullness comes together for you, too. His power extends over everything.”
 
Rather than looking elsewhere, bring Christ deeper into your life. Lift your worries, your fears, your anxieties, and your insecurities to him. Let him hold them for you, and allow him to take the weight off your shoulders.
 
Do what is in your own control, and then lift the rest to Jesus.
 
As you leave here today, remember that no matter how badly we want there to be, there are no quick fixes.
 
But there is the assurance that we can rest in Christ’s fullness.
 
May you choose to rest in Christ’s abundance each and every day. Amen.
 
Let us pray:

Gracious and loving God, when we forget that Christ is all we need, guide us back to him. Help us remember that seeking out quick fixes and instant gratification is often not the answer. Help us to surrender our burdens to Christ. Remind us that Christ died so that we could live. Help us to start living out our faith in Christ. With gratitude and love, we pray. Amen.

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