October 21, 2009
My first “cool” bike was a Sears Spider 3. Three speeds. Purple, hand breaks, slicks and a big sissy bar. I was the epitome of cool on that bike. Wheelies, cat walks, riding backwards, jumps, skids, riding with no hands – great memories. Of course, there are always the painful memories of endos, tank slappers, hitting parked cars, etc, but we’re not going to get into those here.
Remember the feeling of freedom you had as a little boy when you learned to ride a bike without training wheels? Wow. The speed. The freedom. Your world suddenly got far bigger because you could ride a lot farther than you could walk during play time. The power of a two-pedaled bicycle was enormous. In fact, what good would a one-pedaled bike be? My point is this: it’s amazing the power of 2 pedals working together, but seemingly in complete opposition to each other. When one is up, the other is down. Opposite, but perfectly complementary.
I now subscribe to what I call two-pedaled theology. For years I rode a one-pedaled bike. If there were seemingly oppositional truths, I picked one and rode it hard. I now see that many scriptural truths are the two pedals on the theological bicycle.
A good example? Divine sovereignty and personal responsibility. If all we do is live like everything depends on us, we will become Christian Athiests. We’ll never expect the Lord to sovereignly move without us doing something first. We must also live with a hopeful expectation of His divine sovereignty. He moves powerfully on our behalf – in His sovereignty. Do we have personal responsibility in how we live and conduct our lives? Yes. Does the Lord respond to how we walk with Him? Yes. However, He also moves sovereignly out of His great goodness and His good greatness. Likewise, if all we do is hope for God to sovereignly move and don’t carry any personal responsibility we will never mature, but remain as spiritual babies crying out to be fed and cared for.
The Lord has really leveraged this tough business climate to teach me this truth. I have been working very hard at my business to see it grow and prosper. I have asked the Lord to lead me and guide me. I have asked the Lord to give me wisdom and revelation to know what to do and how to serve Him in and through my business, but I have slowly over the years shifted to riding the personal responsibility pedal. If I don’t work hard, the work won’t come. However, these tough economic times have forced me to lean into God’s sovereignty. To believe that He will provide for all my needs because He loves me – not because I do all the right things to earn His favour.
Don’t ride a one pedaled theological bike – two pedals gets you much further.
James 1:17
“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”
Strength and courage,
David