"fight" plan

by Pastor Jim Rovaggi

So the other day we celebrated our little boy’s second birthday. It was loads of fun. We spent weeks preparing a party, for a handful of two and three year olds, that invaded our home, devoured the beautiful train cake my wife painstakingly decorated, and then scattered for their homes in a sugar rush frenzy that would have done the Tasmanian Devil proud. I observed a very notable personality trait developing in my precious little boy that day. He was either, hugging his little playmates accompanied by cooing noises, or he was striking them about the head and neck with the nearest stuffed animal shouting “no!” to a question that had not been asked. I had to ask myself, “What meaneth this?” I finally realized that his violent side came out each time one of the little ruffians would get too close to any of his prized possessions. Now on the one hand, it is time to teach my son what it means to share, on the other hand, it’s a good lesson to remind myself and the people of God that it is a valuable effort indeed, to fight for what is valuable. That sounds fairly easy. It makes sense. The tricky part my friends, is to define what we consider to be valuable. What is worth fighting for?

Let’s do a little math together. There are 168 hours in a week. It stands to reason that the bulk of our time, energy, and resources go towards those things that we must do. Our jobs clearly require the bulk of our time and energy and that’s understandable. As much as I would love to sit around all day singing worship songs, and fellowshipping … the fact is, we blew that whole Garden of Eden thing way back when. So it’s not an un-biblical principle that we have to spend fifty, sixty hours and more, per week, providing for our family. Let’s use an average of 50. Lest you think I’m being unspiritual just remember, we have only ourselves, and our great great great grandpa Adam to thank. Genesis 3:19 "By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground…” The next largest chunk of our time is most likely spent sleeping. Even if you only get six to six and a half hours of sleep a night that still adds up to 45 hours. Are you doing the math with me? We’re now down to about 73 hours. Let’s lop off 3 hours a week just for travel. Driving to work, driving to pick up the kids from baseball practice, driving to the grocery store etc. Honestly, some of us probably spend more than three hours in the car simply driving to and fro.

We’ve got 70 hours left in which to fit family time, eating meals, maintaining a house, running errands, going to church, hobbies, helping cousin Ethel paint the living room, driving down to Who-knows-wheresville for Aunt Sandi’s 99th birthday, taking little Edgar to that birthday party, “that sister invited me to that silly Pampered Chef thing again, I keep turning her down, I guess I have to go this time”, and we have to plan Sheila’s graduation party if she graduates Lord willing, …. and so on and so forth. All of a sudden, 70 hours doesn’t quite seem to cut it does it?

The truth is, we have allowed our schedule to take over. If we could give a face and arms and legs to our schedule, I believe it would be gigantic and monstrous and it would need a dentist to clean it’s fangs, it would make Goliath look like little-bo-peep. It needs a name, ...…let’s call him Ned.

It is the tactic of the enemy to tire us out ...to beat us down ...to overwhelm us with the day to day duties that seem to require more hours than exist in a day! I’m sick of Ned! And here is the beauty of Ned’s (aka the Devil) plan. We think it’s normal! We’ve decided it’s, “the times”, and we shake our heads and chuckle and say, “Oh there’s not enough hours in a day!”, and without lifting a finger we laid down and forgot a simple lesson from a two year old child …that we are to fight for the things we know are valuable.

It is time to be encouraged. To grow, to strengthen, to prepare...and to be challenged. Together, we need to take a long hard look at the things that consume our schedules and decide what do we let go? What do we rearrange, and what is it we need to battle to reclaim? In short, what’s the Fight Plan? Every good warrior needs a plan of attack!

For starters, what are we battling for? Our relationship with the Lord….our very thoughts… our marriages ...our kids. We need our time back! I may not be able to go into work and say, “Hey boss, I’m leaving at 2pm today, I need some down time. But I can certainly teach my little one that, “no, today you can’t go to yet another scheduled activity at the school because we are going to church! Take that Ned! Now school activities aren’t bad on their own. In fact they’re great in reasonable doses. But how will our little girls and boys learn Christian priorities if we don’t teach them?

You know it takes me an hour to empty the dishwasher when our little Julian "helps" me, and about 15 minutes if I do it alone, but to see the joy on his face, and to know the lesson he's learning is worth far more to me than those 45 minutes I could use elsewhere. I will fight for those extra minutes to put away each spoon individually as he hands it to me with pure satisfaction on his little face. In that same way I will fight to claim those minutes during the day that I will commit to serving the Lord through prayer and study and worship.

Will you take a moment to read Psalm 78:5-12? The tribe of Ephraim was one of the tribes of God’s chosen nation. What a sad testament to that community. Scripture tells us, from verses 9-11 “… The men of Ephraim, though armed with bows, turned back on the day of battle; 10 they did not keep God's covenant and refused to live by his law. 11 They forgot what He had done, the wonders He had shown them.”

How tragic! On the day of battle they grew afraid, or tired, or anxious, or overworked, or burned out, (sound familiar?) and at the final hour they turned tail and went home! Just like the people of Ephraim we are armed today! We have a choice; to lay down and allow ourselves to be overwhlemed or to stand and fight! Each one of us has weapons to use unique to us. Every believer is armed with the ability to enter into warfare! Just don’t turn back!
Ephraim was Jacob’s son…How could his tribe forget all God had done for them!? They should have known better!

Hosea 5:9,11 “Ephraim will be laid waste on the day of reckoning. Among the tribes of Israel I proclaim what is certain. ... Ephraim is oppressed, trampled in judgment, intent on pursuing idols “

Well church family, that’s certainly not the legacy I intend to leave do you? I leave you with the words of Paul to the Corinthians.

1st Cor. 9: 23-27 23I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings. 24Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. 27No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

Prepare to Fight! God Bless You! ...And may He make us bless-able!

Pastor Jimmy E. Rovaggi
Associate Pastor
West Hudson Christian Center
557 Kearny Avenue
Kearny, NJ 07032
p 201-997-7762
c-973-600-8544