Getting a Grip

These roots are reminders of the phrase to “ get a grip,” which can have various meanings such as securing a physical hold on some item, exhibiting emotional control in an intense situation, or rethinking one’s position during a heated discussion! However, it also raises other considerations.

We attach ourselves to relationships, “things,” actions, or beliefs which give us a sense of security? We build our intellectual and emotional lives around ideas or values which seem logical and appeal to our sense of justice. However, when these values are not grounded within the context of who God is, we create our own “truths” based on our desires or what we choose to believe and live. “Self truth” veers from the revealed reality that we exist to know God and to reflect His character.

The prophet Isaiah nailed this self-problem with a simple, rhetorical question: “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary” Isaiah 40:28-31). The profound implication is that we may not have a personal, meaningful, conscious awareness of God and His loving, sovereign character. We easily hold a diminished view of God and undervalue His role in this life.

Isaiah gave a gripping response to his question. God is not only sovereign but is also a caring Father whose enduring strength sustains and empowers those who are spiritually weary and faint. Isaiah understood and trusted in God’s exhortations for His people to “hold fast” to Him and to heed His words and promises because they reveal how much He loves believers and guides and guards them in in a broken world. (Deuteronomy 10:20; 11:22-23)(Joshua 22:5)

Scripture instructs everyone to beware that “the wisdom of this world” is folly with God (1Corinthians 18:19-20). The Christian Church is warned about being taken captive to the empty deceit found in worldly philosophies/influences which ignore the person and teachings of Christ, through whom God showed his passionate love for humanity as Jesus struggled perfectly with life’s temptations and difficulties only to die a lonely cruel death in order to bear our sins and secure our redemption.

Someday we all will be forced to release our grip on our intellectual gymnastics, worldly allures, individual agendas, personal “truths,” earthly relationships, and all that has “bewitched” us. These earthly values and treasures can neither comfort us nor go with us or save us when we leave.

We have a limited and uncertain amount of time to grasp onto God’s reality concerning meaning, purpose, and eternal values . That is why Scripture says “now is the time” and exhorts us to be “rooted” in faith, in love, and in Christ -to hold fast to what God promises us through the powerful Gospel of redemption. (Proverbs 4:4) (1Corinthians 15:1-2).

When we hold onto Jesus, we are secure. He is the hope that anchors the soul forever. (Hebrews 6:19)