As Easy as Riding a Bike

I've always been stubborn.  Just ask my wife.

None more so then when I learned to ride a bike. 

I only had one younger brother, but I lived very close to my older cousin.  I got his hand-me-downs for clothes.  I envied his older stuff.  I even tried to hang out with him and his older friends.  In this case, that was my undoing.

I got my first real bike (not a big-wheel) and, of course, it included training wheels.  My cousin and his friends had all mastered the art of bike-riding.  No training wheels attached for these guys.  So, a couple of times I went riding with them.  All they did was make fun of my training wheels, and I didn't like it.

After a couple of these adventures, I go to my dad and ask for the wheels to be removed.  Being a dad and being smarter than his snot-nosed punk kid who thought he knew everything, he refused.  I didn't take no for an answer.  I declared I would not ride the bike again until the training wheels were removed.

My dad used this as an opportunity to teach a lesson.  He removed the training wheels.  I, having an amazing bike-riding ability, took one pedal bump and fell over.  I simply couldn't ride the bike without training wheels.  As a lesson, my dad didn't reinstall them.  I literally had to learn how to ride a bike without using training wheels.  I eventually did, but I missed out on a lot of bike riding time doing it. 

In Matthew 5:5, Jesus tells the gathered crowd that blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth.  Meek, if we go back to the Greek, is likened to a horse bridle.  The horse has all the power and agility it always had, but it's under the reigns of the rider and master.

Jesus asks us to hand control over our lives to the master - to Him.  He wants to steer us and guide us to the path he wants us to follow.  He wants to unleash the power we have for his purpose and his intents.  He wants to be in control.

For us, that's hard to do.  We like to be in control of our destinies.  We rebel about Christ and his teachings in order to satisfy our own egos.  Often times, our decisions lead to heartache and pain when Jesus' ways would have meant an easier path.

I didn't want to learn how to ride a bike with training wheels.  I got there, but it was a painful process.  If I had listened and obeyed, the transition would have been a lot smoother.  I did not submit to a wiser authority.

That's all Jesus asks us to do - to submit to a wiser authority.  Only Jesus knows what is best for our lives.  He wants to get us there, but we have to submit the reigns of our lives to the master.

If we do, we can inherit all the promises he makes.

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