I was sitting in the nursery today at work when a friend came in and said, “D’Rae, I did not know you had a blog!” I laughed and told her I was just one of several bloggers who wrote for my church’s blog. I told her I hadn’t been inspired to write for a while, but I was mulling over a word from a verse in Romans I had recently been faced with. The word CLING. It’s a big word. A strong word. Almost a desperate word. And it comes with its own visuals. “Cling to what is good” the verse goes. Do we?
Our short chat led Emily into telling me about her brother who many years ago was in a horrible car crash and suffered long-term disabilities, including some diminished mental capacity. We often hear stories about him for he’s quite the character. Emily told us how he sometimes will just burst into prayer and often prays for the Cardinals baseball team to WIN! What’s a sister to do but set him straight? Emily said, “I told him I didn’t think God cared one bit about if the Cardinals won or not, and it probably actually made Him sad that prayers were wasted on something so unimportant.” She set him straight, but I don’t know if he bought it. Go Cards!
The dictionary says the word CLING means 1) to remain persistently or stubbornly faithful to something, 2) to adhere or stick firmly or closely to, be hard to part or remove from, 3) remain close to, and 4) hold on tightly to.
So what do we cling to? The good, the bad, the ugly? And when do we do the clinging? When life is good and we’re driving down easy street or when we are sick and sad and scared? In the end, who do we stay stubbornly faithful to?
The Bible is full of all sorts of characters who would cling to God but then let go, only to cling again…and let go again. But three men stand out to me. The 3 Js.
Joseph: No matter where life took this guy, he clung to the good. He clung to integrity and honor. In the pit, prison, or palace, he held tightly to his God.
Job: He was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil. And that’s straight from the Word! Whether prospering on easy street, or scratching sores on his body after his family had all died AND after losing all of his possessions, he clung to God. He never let go.
Jesus: It’s hard for our little minds to comprehend how he was fully God and fully man. Yet he was. And every step of the way, Jesus adhered to his Father. He clung to him in prayer. He clung to him on the cross. He is our greatest, clingiest example!
So what are we gripping tightly in our hands? What is it we cling to? Our status, money, family, the Cardinals? When it’s all said and done the only thing worthy of our firm, faithful, stubborn grasp is our good shepherd, our Savior.
CLING to what is good!