Wax On, Wax Off

If you know the reference, then the words make sense. Wax on. Wax off. These words represent how you learn from doing everyday tasks that the benefit of doing something so simple can create a life-long skill that makes the future wins possible. You know, apply the wax on the car this way, and remove it this way. Now, stand up to your opponent on the day of your match, then these simple movements become the way you win the battle.

It’s the practice of the things we learn when in training that fulfills our future!

“Your beliefs become your thoughts… which becomes your words… which becomes your actions… which becomes your habits…which become your values, and your values become your destiny.” (Gandhi)

Notice. Gandhi said it all started with your beliefs, and that eventually becomes your destiny.

I woke this morning with some words and thoughts pounding my spirit, and I thought about the reference of the playground slide. Do you remember trying to slide down and you couldn’t go very fast? Something was wrong with you, or the surface of the slide, and thrill could not be found. In fact, many times you would simply go to another playground equipment and find your thrills elsewhere!

But, there was magic paper in the kitchen. Remember? Not Saran Wrap, Butcher, or Foil, but Wax Paper. Quick. Run to the kitchen and get a few sheets off the magic roll! Share the pieces with everyone. With the waxy side down, sit on it, and slide “faster than a speeding bullet!”

Lesson learned! You can either slowly slide to the bottom, or you can slick up the slide with wax and speed quicker than Superman!

Of course, those of us who understand the concept know that the same principle is true when it comes to downhill or cross country skis! Only, it’s magic paste! Heat! Apply! Smooth! Then ski faster than a person has the right to ski!

Then, this thought began to percolate. That slow slide to the bottom, or that speedy trip to the ultimate fall at the end of the slope – it can either be mindless as it slowly happens, or it can be downright frightful! It may seem like it’s going too slowly, so let’s make the journey quicker. Or, someone shares the magic with you and you enjoy the ride because you never knew how good the ride could be!

This morning, names started popping up on my radar from words I heard this week, conversations, both personal and via social media. What did I hear and experience?

It is a slow to fast fall from Grace to the dumps.

How quickly we lose our identity, walk, consistency, faithfulness…what began as a slow slide is quickly changed when we apply the magic paper or compound! Someone teaches us the way to the bottom, and we begin to question our belief system, and before you know it? Voila! You’re dumped off the slide. Plop! You’re on the ground. Just like everyone else.

I heard this illustration about a person who tattooed “Loser” on their forehead. The preacher could not understand why anyone would want that permanent marker on their lives, visible to all, so he asked a wise looking tattoo artist, “Why?” The Reply? “Before Loser Here (pointing to the forehead), Loser Here (pointing to the heart)”

Powerful thought! It’s not just losing the head knowledge, but it begins somewhere and perhaps it began with the heart!

Some think they are adapting their lives to the world around them and everything must be okay. Everyone is doing it. In reality, I believe, their destiny is defined by the eroding of their belief system. Instead of allowing their beliefs to be strongly grounded by truths that were delivered to them from those who have helped lay the foundation in the past, they’ve taken their eyes off the influence of their heritage and quickly fallen down that slippery slope! What’s at the bottom? Hopefully a prodigal moment, but we’ve all experienced those who never return!

Think about the Apostle Paul and how he conversed with Timothy, his protege. His face to face instructional season is over, and now he is writing letters to Timothy from various locations, and even in prison just before his own death.

In the first letter, we find Paul charging Timothy to not change who he was! The section heading of his first words to Timothy?No Other Doctrine

³ As I urged you when I went into Macedonia—remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine, ⁴ nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which cause disputes rather than godly edification which is in faith. ⁵ Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith, ⁶ from which some, having strayed, have turned aside to idle talk, ⁷ desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm. ⁸ But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, ⁹ knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, ¹⁰ for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is ^[c]contrary to sound doctrine, ¹¹ according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust.
(1 Timothy 1:3-11) [Source]

Paul is telling Timothy what his scriptural and personal own belief system was and he was focused on pouring it into Timothy.

I personally believe Paul’s words! The words of Scripture have been poured into me since infancy. I do not pollute these words with thoughts of trying to change them to “fit the world around me”. Rather, the world must align with the Words that come from God!

As a pastor, I attempt to pour these words into those that are part of my world. Family. Church. Social platforms. However, as with Paul’s understanding, my words may not be enough. There needs to be additional help provided so that lives will be strong in the Lord, and able to effect change in the world around them!

I find Paul, in his second letter reminding Timothy that his yardstick of life and experiences is deep! What Timothy knows, and what he has in front of him, has been bolstered by others reinforcing him. In the second letter, Paul reminds Timothy of his heritage. The section heading? Timothy’s Faith and Heritage.

³ I thank God, whom I serve with a pure conscience, as my forefathers did, as without ceasing I remember you in my prayers night and day, ⁴ greatly desiring to see you, being mindful of your tears, that I may be filled with joy, ⁵ when I call to remembrance the ^[b]genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also. ⁶ Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. ⁷ For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. (2 Timothy 1:3-7) [Source]

Paul’s influence and leadership had a foundation from Timothy’s own past that could be traced back to his grandmother and mother. In other words, Timothy had a generational heritage!

Consider that much of our heritage began long before, we have scripture that defines the blessings of this generational heritage! (Deuteronomy 7:9) It’s God’s faithfulness to those who keep his commandments! But when one generation begins to slide, it’s a trip from the bottom for the subsequent generations. There’s no slide. They are already there!

This slippery slope is identified in Exodus 20 where we find the Ten Commandments! It’s not outside of the Law. It is the Law!

Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
(Exodus 20:5 KJV)

The world around us is speeding down the slippery slide that is of our own doing. I cannot stop your slide. It’s a personal thing. Only God and the person that is sliding can effect the change needed.

I can do my part. Live God’s Words every day! Keep my belief system intact! Read and study God’s Words every single day! Pray. Worship. Live it. Let my life be the example where my words may only incite a riot. You are not needing to preach it all the time, but you are required to live it all the time!

Yesterday, a Christian was standing on the street corner with a huge poster board banner that read:

Try Jesus! You’ll like Him!
But if not, no worry, Satan will take you back!

Maybe this works. I’m not sure. Surely someone will be affected so a change will happen. This doesn’t work for me! As for me, and mine? We will serve the Lord! (Joshua 24:15)

Someday. This slipping will stop. Will it be like slowing and dropping pendulum that brings the ultimate demise? Or can we be the shift that needs to happen in others lives? Counterbalance. Faithful words. Loving the sinner but not the sin. Bring some back from the fire? Perhaps the words from Jude tells us how.

But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And on some have compassion, making a distinction; but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh. (Jude 1:20-23)

I cannot help but believe these words today are not by accident. It’s what you and I do with the words that are important!