Day 35: Jesus is a “go Big or Go Home” Kind of Warrior

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me will find it. For what will it benefit someone if he gains the whole world yet loses his life? Or what will anyone give in exchange for his life? MATTHEW 16:24–26

FOR MOST OF MY adult life I’ve enjoyed trail running. Of course, now that I’m almost sixty, it’d be more accurate to describe what I do as wobbly-trail-gasping, but trotting up and down dirt paths that wind through the woods appeals to me much more so than the monotony of running on a suburban sidewalk or a treadmill. I’d rather hear birds chirping and my own labored breathing than car horns and squealing brakes. And I’d sure rather catch a glimpse of a timid white-tailed deer bounding through the trees than a large man trudging along in too-short shorts (a sight that has alarmed me all too often when I run in the city). Plus, trail running and hiking aren’t simply workouts for me, they’re practical pressure-release valves. Traipsing through God’s creation causes anxiety to evacuate my heart and mind in much the same way that spraying a garden hose causes my neighbor’s pesky cat to sprint away from my roses!

However, about ten years ago I experienced such an unwelcome wallop in the woods that I seriously considered moving my workout routine to a comfy couch or the shallow end of a pool! There I was, hustling happily down a path in the Natchez Trace wilderness area late one afternoon, when my foot hit a slick spot and, in an instant, I was flailing through the air instead of being pleasantly attached to the ground. I crash-landed with my arms extended in front of me in an instinctive “Superman” pose. Unfortunately, I was running so fast and the trail was so steep, that the momentum propelled me facedown on the rocky path. Even more unfortunately, my nose rammed into a sharp stone with so much force that it sliced my sniffer right up the middle like a butterflied pork chop.

It took me a few seconds to gather my wits after that ungainly face-plant because I’d knocked myself silly, but I sobered up quickly when I realized blood was spurting from my nose. I knew I didn’t have time to panic or whine because I was several miles from help, so I applied pressure, held my mangled nose together with my T-shirt, and ran the last half mile to my car, praying out loud the whole time. Fortunately, I have a dear friend who’s a surgeon and she met me at the ER for a hasty reattachment operation, albeit without anesthesia because she had very little time to save what viable tissue was left. For a few weeks afterwards, they weren’t sure if I’d keep my nose because the damage was so significant. Thankfully, it healed up nicely and all that’s left from my “trail-tastrophe” is a small, rabbit-like crease of a scar.

The point of the story is what my dear friend Paige said when she came to see me at the hospital. She said, “Lisa, you’re going to have to quit saying, ‘we need to leave skin on the table,’ when you’re teaching about how we should ‘go big or go home’ for the sake of the Gospel!”

When I was a kid, my favorite Bible stories were the “go big or go home” ones filled with adventure. Mom reminded me not long ago that I begged her to read about Samson’s exploits so often that his chapter ultimately came loose from the binding and fell out of the big picture book she read from every night! I’ve often wondered what Jesus’s favorite stories were when He was growing up in Nazareth. Which ones did He beg Mary or Joe to read over and over again from the Hebrew Scriptures when they were putting Him to bed? In light of the fact that the Son of God grew up to fulfill His mission by going toe-to-toe with pure evil and ultimately defeated both satan and death, my guess is He was especially fond of epic battle stories like this one involving King David and one of his “Mighty Men” (who were like the ancient version of the Special Forces) named Eleazar:

After him, Eleazar son of Dodo son of an Ahohite was among the three warriors with David when they defied the Philistines. The men of Israel retreated in the place they had gathered for battle, but Eleazar stood his ground and attacked the Philistines until his hand was tired and stuck to his sword. The Lord brought about a great victory that day. Then the troops came back to him, but only to plunder the dead. (2 Sam. 23:9–10, emphasis mine)

In other words, when the rest of the Israelite army abandoned King David and hightailed it out of there because they were so intimidated by the vast numbers of the Philistine army, Eleazar stood his ground with his king—likely back-to-back—and faced an entire battalion of enemy soldiers. Then, when the vicious hand-to-hand combat was finally over, all the Philistines lay dead and only King David and Eleazar were left standing. But even then Eleazar couldn’t let go of his sword because he’d fought so hard for so long that his fingers were frozen stiff around the grip!

What makes this story even more gripping (pun intended) is that this incredibly lopsided victory took place at Pas-dammin, which is the very same spot that David had killed Goliath with a slingshot when he was just a boy (1 Sam. 17:1–2; 1 Chron. 11:12–14).

Can’t you just picture preteen Jesus sitting up in bed cheering when His parents read this one? I like to imagine Joseph swinging a pretend sword around Jesus’s bedroom as he acted out this ancient battle! Little did His parents understand then exactly how their boy would go on to become a Warrior who eclipsed the bravery of all of the Mighty Men put together when He willingly chose to leave His skin on an old, rugged cross.

And don’t forget that we’re made in God’s image, which means we’re divinely wired and equipped to be go big or go home kind of spiritual soldiers too! Whether we’re on home turf standing shoulder to shoulder with an entire community of believers or whether we’re totally outmanned while duking it out with the dragon, Jesus calls us to invest everything we have in the battle for His kingdom purposes.

• WHAT’S THE BIGGEST fight you’ve ever engaged in? Was it worth it?
• WHAT NATURAL GIFTS has God given you to invest when it comes to fighting for kingdom purposes? Do you feel like you’re using them to “go big” or “run so as to win” (1 Cor. 9:24 nabre) for the sake of the Gospel right now? Explain.
• READ REVELATION 3:16–17. Where do you find yourself this season on this spiritual continuum of hot (fully invested) and cold (not invested at all)?