THE GIFT OF TENSION

How in the world can tension be a gift? It just is.

It is in every thought we have. It is in everything we do. It resides in the Law of Opposites. The LAW OF OPPOSITES? Yes.

OK. Is this some kind of a joke? No. We deal with the LAW OF OPPOSITES every day and have probably never given it a thought. There can be no UP if there is no DOWN, there is no SWEET if there is no SOUR, no RIGHT if there is no LEFT no HIGH if there is no LOW, no FAST if there is no SLOW, no GOOD if there is no EVIL, etc., etc., etc….to which you are now probably saying “Well, of course! Everyone knows that.” And yes, of course, everyone does.

And what does any of this have to do with the idea that TENSION is a GIFT?

We speak of the GIFT OF LIFE. The TENSION that is an inescapable aspect of the LAW OF OPPOSITES is to LIFE what indispensably necessary TENSION is to the caterpillar who is attempting to escape from its cocoon. Absent that TENSION, the caterpillar would never have the strength it needs in its wings to be able to fly.

Absent that TENSION in our lives, there would be no striving, no dissatisfaction, no determination.

In his incredibly insightful book, HAPPINESS IS A SERIOUS PROBLEM, author Dennis Prager has this to say about TENSION.

“A life without TENSION is a shallow life; so shallow that an absence of TENSION characterizes animal or plant life more than it does human life.”

Have you ever had really negative feelings about something you may not have fully understood, but once you understood it, it became something about which you had very positive thoughts even to it being a very important agent of change in your life.

That is the purpose of this blog about TENSION. It is to understand that were it not for the TENSION between where you are and where you want to be, you would never do what you need to do to get there. For example, If one of my objectives in life is to be the best that I can be at whatever I decide I want to accomplish, one of the first things I have to acknowledge and accept is that there will be some one or some thing standing in my way.

In one of his daily devotional readings in MY UTMOST FOR HIS HIGHEST, Author Oswald Chambers makes the point that one of the things Jesus came to save us from was ourselves.

If I am seeking to identify the single most powerful opponent that stands between me and all I want to accomplish in life, I need not look far more than likely it is ME. And why? Because I will believe that “IF IT’S TO BE…..ITS ALL UP TO ME.

One of the most sobering passages in all scripture is the statement in the Holy Bible in the letter to the Hebrews, Chapter 5, verse 8, where the writer tells us that:

….though He (Jesus) was a son, He learned obedience through His suffering.

Really? The SON OF GOD had to learn obedience? Mercy! If the SON OF GOD had to learn obedience, then what does that mean for me?

Well, it tells me that one of the first lessons I must “learn” is the same lesson He had to learn, and that was that He could not do it ALL BY HIMSELF.

In the Gospel of John, chapter 5, verse 30, we have these words from Jesus:

  “I can of Myself do nothing. because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.” (John 5:30)

OK, then. What is the second lesson I will need to learn? It is to know and believe from whence is that help going to come?

(The answer to this question is the single most important information you will ever possess. )

It will come to you from the same place it came to King David.

I will look up into the hills, from whence comes my help? (Psalm 121)

That is God’s part.

My part? My part is to trust Him to do His part. And when I do, I will discover that He is faithful. He will. Oh, but there is more.

“And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive. (Matthew 21:22)

Once you have received that for which you have prayed, what then? Well, you won’t believe it. It is all in the following passage which we have 5 times in the Gospels. in Matthew 13:12; 25:29; Mark 4:25; Luke 8:18 and 12:48:

To him who has, more will be given, to him who has not even that which he has will be taken away.

Five times? The same passage? Yes. In the Hebrew tradition, the more something was repeated, the more important it was to know.

Now most people when first introduced to these passages ask to him ….who has.. what? The answer is trust….trust in the giver.

The MORE you trust God today, the MORE ability He will give you to trust Him tomorrow to him who HAS, more will be given. The more you trust Him tomorrow, the more ability He will give you to trust Him the next day, and on, and on, and on.

You’ve heard of “compound interest”? This is “compound TRUST”.

King David lived with TENSION his whole life. He TRUSTED God. YOU can trust God. That is YOUR part.

OH! REALLY? Hmm