Which Chair are You In?

When we rely on ourselves alone to set our own rules in life, we set ourselves up for failure...

When I was younger, I used to rely only on myself (and no one else) to run my life. I did not trust God to do anything for me because I had no faith or trust in Him. But as the years went on, I found it increasingly difficult to manage my life. Inevitably, (33 years ago) I “crashed and burned,” which led me to the Lord two years later. Today, one of my favorite passages is from the Book of James…

2 Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, three knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. 5 But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6 But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, 8 being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. (James 1:2-8 NASB)

When we rely only on ourselves to solve our problems, manage relationships, or set our own rules in life, we will always fail. For many people, including me, this path often leads to a place of pain where I finally sought help. Only then was I able to deal with the “stuff” that stood between me and trusting God’s will for my life. Once I made that decision, it was essential to put my trust in God not reluctantly or halfheartedly but deliberately and with conviction.

No matter where you are in life, the key to maintaining some sense of balance is trusting in God rather than in oneself or some self-help guru. This lack of trust (or faith) in God will eventually destroy our serenity. When we trust in Him, we can come to believe that God can and will restore us to some level of peace and contentment. But this will only happen when we accept responsibility for our actions, stop doubting, and begin believing in Jesus Christ.

27 Then He said to Thomas, “Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving but believing.” (John 20:27 NASB)

Jesus was essentially saying… trust me, Thomas!

There are three basic levels of trust. To best explain them, I’m going to borrow from an illustration that Christian author and speaker Bruce Wilkinson has used to describe a person’s walk of faith. The analogy is built around three chairs...

In Chair One, we have people who are committed to a worldview that holds the planets rotate around the sun, the sun rotates within the galaxy, and the universe revolves around them. They have bumper stickers on their vehicles that read, “HE WHO DIES WITH THE MOST TOYS WINS”. They are committed to playing, eating, partying, and doing anything that makes them feel good or appeals to their sense of self-fulfillment. They do not donate time or money to causes. They like Christmas and Easter only because they are paid holidays. This chair is where those of us who acted out in whatever way we felt appropriate at the time; shrugged off the consequences of our actions and immediately returned to our old behaviors when we could. If anyone approached us or attempted to intervene, we would lash out at them and separate ourselves from them. We were in total control of our lives and didn’t need anyone’s help, least of all God’s, to get through the day. Life’s top priority is self; everyone and everything else is a distant second, and God isn’t even on the list.

The Second Chair is occupied by people who are caught in a struggle between their concept of God and their desire to do as they please. The vast majority of people in our world sit in this chair. They consider themselves to be good people, but they are usually burdened with guilt and anxiety as they struggle with either recognizing God or continuing to act out. They go to church when it is convenient unless a bigger priority comes along. They pray only in crisis. They own a Bible but do not read it. They are only connected to the Christian life because that is how they were raised.

This is the place where most of us are when we begin to question our habits and lifestyles. We sense something isn’t right, but we don’t know how to find the answers. People try to tell us that we are messing up our lives, and we know deep down inside that they are right. We rely mostly on self-help, willpower, and other people, places, and things to make us happy. Our priorities are based on the need of the moment.

For example, today, a child’s sudden illness may cause us to reach out to God for healing, but tomorrow’s flat tire becomes the wrath of a vengeful God who is bent on destroying our life. Today, going to church is imperative; next week, we will miss it because one of the kids has a soccer game. Second chair people say one thing and do another. They talk about what is important in their life but act differently. They are not anchored to any conviction or absolute truth. Second Chair people often raise First Chair children. Children watch their parents’ lives and realize at a young age that God is not important enough to make a priority, and they reject Him at an early age.

In the Third Chair are people who are deeply committed to trusting in God. They consider a relationship with Him their number one priority. They make life decisions based on His Word. They place their relationship with God ahead of their spouse, family, children, and work. They are deeply devoted to serving others and actively look for opportunities to do so. They are guided by the concept of stewardship rather than guilt. They give of their time, talent, and treasure because they recognize that these are gifts from God, not things they have earned themselves. They own a Bible and read it regularly to answer the questions of life. They trust that God has a good and perfect plan and that He can make all things work for good for those that place their faith in Him. In the church body, these are the people who are in service positions, who sponsor, who lead groups, and who come early and set up chairs. They know that the only way to continue to grow in their healing and recovery is to give away what has been freely given to them.

The one thing that separates these three chairs is trust:

• In Chair One, we trust in ourselves…

• In Chair Two, we do not know who or what to trust…

• In Chair Three, we trust in Jesus Christ…

Which chair are you in today?

A final thought…

How can we come to trust in God more fully? By getting to know Him! We obviously would not entrust our cell phone or credit card to a total stranger because we don’t know their character. It’s the same with trusting God… we can come to trust Him by getting to know Him and his character. We do that by knowing His Word. The Bible tells us that God never changes and never lies…

19 God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? (Numbers 23:19)

29 Also, the Glory of Israel will not lie or change His mind; for He is not a man that He should change His mind.” (1 Samuel 15:29).

We can begin to build our trust upon His proven record of faithfulness because God will never cease being perfectly trustworthy!