Justin Tucker, LHBC Worship Pastor
1 Corinthians 10:13
No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
In the MMA world, there is a phrase that is taught early and often and that phrase is “Tap, Snap, or Nap.” That phrase means: if you don’t tap out in submission, you are taking a risk of being seriously injured by having a joint or bone snapped or having your oxygen cut off and taking a nap. This was a phrase that I was not familiar with the one and only time I stepped onto a mat to spar with a trained professional. One Friday night at the church I grew up at, a professional MMA fighter came and gave his testimony and then did an exhibition. Well…my mother, the prankster that she is, knew I was a fan of the sport and thought it would be funny to have me called up during the demonstration. Just a thought, student ministry sure has changed…I got beat up by a professional MMA fighter and kids today can’t play dodgeball. Anyway…I held my own for about 12 seconds, the dude climbed on my back like a spider monkey, put me in a rear-naked chokehold and then my world slowly got darker, smaller, and much more quiet. I didn’t know to tap out and if I had I sure wasn’t going to quit in front of my friends. Well because of my ignorance and pride, I woke up to the laughter of my mother and the worst headache of my life. Mom – 1, Justin – 0. I didn’t
Isn’t that how our lives look alot of the time though? Either due to ignorance or ego, pride or prejudice we don’t know when to submit to God. We don’t know when to tap out and say, “God, I can’t do this my way. I need to submit to Your way.” The outcomes to not submitting to the Lord are also very similar. If we don’t submit, we oftentime get hurt. Now it may or may not be the actual snapping of a physical part of our bodies but something in our hearts or spirits gets damaged. If we don’t submit to God’s will and His way then we can be asleep and unaware of all the things that He is doing in our world. I don’t know about you but I don’t want to take on any unnecessary damage or miss the blessings of the Lord. The reality is though, at some point I’m going to do my own thing and so are you. Isn’t it good to know that God, through worship, provides a way for us to tap out to Him?
So I hear you asking, “How does singing tell God that we are tapping out?” Alone, it doesn’t. Worship isn’t just singing songs to God. Both the Hebrew and Greek words most translated as worship in scripture have the same concept…to bow. When we worship we humble ourselves before God. When we worship, we submit to the lordship of Jesus and take our eyes off of whatever it is that we have pursued in place of Him. So today, let’s tap out to Jesus. Let’s commit to humbling ourselves to living for Him in every facet of our lives.
PRAYER FOR TODAY:
Father, thank you for always providing a way out of each and every situation. Lord, help me to remember to tap out to you daily. To choose Your will and desires above my own. To choose my responses to the situations in my life to be honoring and glorifying to you. Lord, I love you and I thank you for your goodness and mercy. Most of all I thank you for your son, Jesus and it is in His name I pray, amen.
MEMORY VERSE OF THE WEEK:
Romans 5:1- Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we[a] have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ