Keep Going
Originally scheduled for July 18
Most advertising campaigns are eminently forgettable. We are
flooded with commercials and advertisements to the extent that they tend to
blur. But once in a while a campaign touches a resonance in the human heart,
and we remember it. Usually the advertisement has something visual that’s hard
to forget. One such campaign has as its motto, “Keep Going.” Of course you
know which campaign that is: the Energizer Bunny. For twenty years we’ve been
hit with the sight of the pink bunny with the drum. It is so well known that
the company that makes the product also sells slippers – pink bunny slippers
with the trademark sunglasses on them.
Keep Going – it strikes a chord with us because it is so hard
to do in life. The Christian life runs into that as well. It’s hard to keep
going as a Christian:
·
We run into
discouragement in our lives. The trials of life tend to grind us down,
especially if we thought that becoming a Christian was the end of our troubles.
But “in this world you will have trouble,” said our Lord. Often enough trouble
comes with discouragement attached.
·
We run into
distraction in our lives. The calm spiritual life is greatly valued – and
often out of reach when the baby throws up, the car breaks down, your back goes
out and temptation sets in.
·
We run into the
distemper in our lives – the sense that things are just not going the way we
want them to, and it’s got to be someone else’s fault. We just don’t know who.
For such things Christ has provided us a reminder that in the
ultimate struggles of life the victory has already been won. It is the Lord’s
Supper; it reminds us that ultimately the struggle with death has been won.
Christ has triumphed over the grave. What we see as the ultimate defeat is
really the path to victory.
How are we encouraged to keep going?
·
First, Communion
is a reminder: we’re on the winning side. Ultimate victory has been won at
the Cross.
·
Second, we are
provided a chance to confess our sins and repent, restoring our relationship
with God.
·
And finally, it’s
a chance to bring the discouragement, distraction and distemper to God – and
leave these things with Him.
Communion is God’s way of telling us to keep going – until he
comes again.
