It’s like the time when I was 8 years old and I was learning to ride a bike. Prior to that I’d been content to ride my tricycle. Man, I could make that thing move. Beat all the competition every time we’d race down the street; mainly because the competition was half my age! I’d tried to ride a two-wheeler, but I kept falling off. And the more I failed, the more I told myself that I was doomed to fail so, guess what? I kept failing. Then came a glorious Sunday afternoon in early spring. I was zipping around the neighbourhood on my tricycle, but all the other kids were out riding their bikes. And I just got to thinking, “You know what, I can do that; I can ride a bike.” It was a feeling deep down in my gut that this time I was going to get on that bike and somehow make it go. Hadn’t done it before, but I could just see myself doing it. So I got off my tricycle, and got on the bike that I’d inherited from my big brother, and away I went.
Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right. It’s a matter of mind over mind. Not mind over matter because you’re not just using brain power to overcome a material force; no, it’s mind over mind because you’re using a hopeful mental attitude to overcome a defeatist mental attitude.
It’s like Jesus’ Parable of the Talents (see Matthew 25:14-30). Three slaves were given three different amounts of money. But they were all given lots of money. The first was given five talents, the second was given two talents, and the third was given one talent. But even one talent was about the amount that a Palestinian peasant labourer would make in 16 years! And that’s who Jesus is talking to: Palestinian peasants. Imagine being asked to invest the equivalent of your annual income for 16 or 32 or 80 years. That’s big bucks! So each slave had been given the opportunity to use this money to make even more money. Which is exactly what the first two did. They said, “Gee, I think with a little prudent investing, I can make some money here.” Their hopeful attitude gave them the courage to take a risk – because investing is always a risk; you might lose that money; especially if you only recently got into the stock market – their hopeful attitude gave them the courage to take a risk, and the risk paid off; they made a profit. But the third slave seemed to say, “I’m going to mess up; I know I’m going to mess up; if I take any kind of a risk with this money it’s going to be gone and I’m going to be in big trouble.” So he buried it. He put it in a safe place. And thus all that he had to show at the end of the day was no more than the original amount entrusted to him. And you know what? I think he was in bigger trouble than he would’ve been if he’d invested and lost that money. The master might’ve at least praised his spunk, his chutzpah, his willingness to push the outside of the envelope. But the point is, he was defeated by his own attitude. He was defeated by his fear. He was defeated by his conviction that he was going to fail and his fear of his master.
It’s all a matter of mind over mind. First of all, your mind has to have a realistic picture of reality. Secondly, you have to have a hopeful attitude about what you can do with that reality. And finally, you have to trust the gifts that God has given you, and the power that God has placed within you; the gifts and the power to do amazing things.
So, first of all, you have to have in your mind a realistic picture of reality; all of reality. You have to take into account not just the data that you can see, but also the data which is unseen.
It’s like when I was hiking on the Appalachian Trail. There was this one morning when it seemed like it was all uphill. And I was struggling. But I’d looked at my map and I knew that when I reached a huge outcrop called Mary’s Rock, it would then be two miles downhill into Thornton Gap and a place where I could rest a bit and maybe even get a cup of coffee! And I figured, “Okay, I’ll stop for lunch at Mary’s Rock, and then it will be all downhill from there.” So I pushed myself some more and finally I came to this big rock and sure enough, beyond it I could see the trail going downhill. I said, “I made it.” I took off my backpack, pulled out my lunch, looked out over the gorgeous scenery, and relaxed. After resting for a while, I resumed my journey. But after going downhill for a little bit, I noticed that the trail was going up again. And I said, “What’s going on here?!” Until I got to an even bigger rock and I said, “Surely this is Mary’s Rock,” and the trail started back down. For a bit. And then, uphill again. Now I’m mad. And since this is a family church, I’ll edit out the words that were coming out of my mouth. Then, I came upon a picnic shelter; a shelter that I knew, from looking at my map hours ago, is before Mary’s Rock. But I’d forgotten to look at my map when I stopped for lunch. If I had, I would’ve seen that I still had a ways to go uphill. I hadn’t taken into account all of the data. I didn’t have a realistic picture in my head. Now I’m ready to give up. I’m exhausted, I’m in despair, I just can’t make it any further. But what’s the problem here? Is it that I’m physically unable to keep going? No; the problem is the unrealistic picture in my mind, and the defeatist attitude that’s set in. I’ve been defeated by my mindset; or nearly so. Only my anger kept me going. Until I finally reached this huge rock, that even looked a little bit like a cross. And I said, “That’s got to be Mary’s Rock.” And it was. And I took my exhausted self and hobbled the two miles down to Thornton Gap.
I was nearly defeated by my unrealistic picture of reality, and by the defeatist mindset which that bum picture had triggered. My paradigm was wrong because I hadn’t taken account of all the data. But isn’t that the way it often works in the church? We’re so focused on the immediate data – on the things that can be seen – that we fail to take into account the evidence that is unseen (see Hebrews 11:1; KJV). We see the aging congregation, we see the small number of people making pledges. We fail to see the presence of the Holy Spirit. We fail to see the power of God at work within us. We fail to see the One through whom all things are possible (Matthew 19:26). We fail to see these things because sometimes we’re so focused on the negative, sometimes our vision is so clouded by a defeatist attitude, that we can’t see the hopeful signs that are right in front of our eyes. There are new faces in our midst; we are a younger bunch than we were a few years ago. As Cheryl Amos once said at a Board meeting, “I’m thankful that when I look around on a Sunday morning, I’m no longer the youngest person in the Sanctuary.” There are children here, there is music here, there is life here. Just look around. If you’re going to move ahead, you have to have a realistic picture in your mind. But that picture must take into account all of the evidence; not just the evidence that you choose to see.
First of all, you have to have in your mind a realistic picture of reality. Secondly, you have to have a hopeful attitude about what you can do with that reality. Again, when I was hiking on the AT, I would sometimes be so tired that I’d think, “I can’t take another step.” Then I’d think, “Well, now, wait a minute. I can make it to that next tree.” And then I’d reach that tree and I’d say, “Gee, I can make it to that next rock.” You can always push yourself further than you think you can. You can always bear more pain than you think you can. I mean, I was hurting and I was out of breath as I forced myself to get to that next tree; but I got there. Success is a matter of attitude; it’s a matter of your mindset. I never did weigh my backpack, because I figured that if I knew how much it really weighed I’d say, “I can’t carry that,” and I’d give-up. Never mind the fact that I already had carried that pack for maybe a week. It’s like the honey bee. For decades, scientists couldn’t figure out how a bee is able to fly. All the data available to them said that it’s impossible for a bee to fly. It’s a good thing that no one told the bee that! They might’ve all stopped flying and the flowers wouldn’t be geminated and my wife wouldn’t have honey to put into her tea! I simply trusted that I could carry that backpack. Bees trust that they can fly. And they do! And I did! What you think is possible, what you trust to be possible, largely determines what is possible. The mind over mind approach expresses the psychological truth behind Paul’s notion that “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13). If you can trust that, and act as if it’s so, then you can make it so. By the way, according to a recent issue of National Geographic, scientists have finally figured out how bees fly. They just hadn’t seen all the data before.
First you have to have a realistic picture of reality. Then, you have to have a hopeful attitude about what you can do with that reality. And finally, you have to trust the gifts that God has given you, and the power that God has placed within you, and then you can do amazing things. You see, the parable of the talents isn’t just about investing money; it’s about investing all of the resources that God has given you. Money yes; but also the spiritual gifts that the Master has given you, and the energy of the Spirit that flows within you; that flows in the midst of all of us. We have all been given gifts. We are all gifted people. Not just gifted a little bit; gifted abundantly! Again, just one talent is 16 years worth of income. The master gifted those slaves, and the Master gifts us, abundantly!
In the coming months you will all have an opportunity to discern the gifts that God has given you. This will be done through the use of a spiritual gift inventory. Some of you have already helped us to “test drive” this resource, and with some fine-tuning, it will be ready for distribution to the whole congregation, maybe early in the new year. It’s important that we all do some discerning around our spiritual gifts because, you see, left to our own understanding, without looking at all the data, we each might be tempted to say, “There really is very little that I can do.” Even more so, left to the understanding of the people around you, it’s easy to conclude that there’s really very little that I can do or that we collectively can do. You know, we tend to dish out far more criticism than affirmation; we humans are quick to criticize and slow to encourage. So if you’re surrounded by negativity and if you tend to give ourselves negative messages as well, it’s hard to realize the fullness of the potential that God has placed within you. Often we dare not even try because first of all – we tell ourselves – I’m really not very gifted and secondly if I do try, someone is going to criticize me. We’re afraid to even try because, like the frightened slave in Jesus’ parable, we fear the wrath of those whom we’ve decided to view as our masters.
Brothers and sisters, we have only one Master. And that Master is God, who has gifted you and empowered you to do great things. Don’t let anyone tell you what you aren’t capable of doing. Instead, listen to the wisdom of the Spirit deep within you who tells you what you are capable of doing. Listen to the Spirit who says that you can do all things through the Christ who strengthens you.
How you look at yourself, and the world around you, and the job or journey ahead of you largely determines where you’re going to end up and whether or not you’re likely to succeed. Your paradigm – your mindset – needs to be in touch with reality, but with a positive spin. You really can make it to the next tree, and the next rock, and the next summit. Trusting that it is so can make it so. And, oh yes, did I mention that whether you think or can or think you can’t, you’re right. Amen.
Text: Proverbs 3:5-6
Preached by Bruce D. Ervin
16 November 2008
A Stewardship Thought before the Offering
John Henry Muirhead was a pioneer teacher of social workers. He said:
“To succeed you must dare to fail, for they who make no mistakes make nothing else.”
Dare to fail – on the job, in your families, in the use of your financial resources – dare to fail, and trust that Spirit to give you success.
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