Grasping ‘It’

 

You either have ‘it’ or you don’t.

You don’t get ‘it’ until you’ve gotten ‘it.’

‘It’ is something that’s hard to explain unless you’ve grasped it, so bear with me as I attempt to explain ‘it’ and why it’s so important in your life.

‘It’ is something to be grasped.  You may have heard of athletes talk about having ‘it.’  This is typically referring to a relentless determination and passion to work towards your dream.  It is the unrelenting desire to be the best you can be.  I would argue that ‘it,’ no matter what aspect of your life you’re referring to, starts in your heart rather than your mind.

I’m reminded of the Gatorade commercial where Kevin Durant dreams that he is being beaten by Dwayne Wade and begins to work hard to stop it. Kevin Durant could know he needs to practice every day to beat Dwayne Wade.  He could know that he needs to get up early, workout, and sacrifice.  But having the passion to do it comes from a desire in his heart.

I want to talk about grasping ‘it’ in a spiritual sense, though.  It’s going beyond a head-knowledge of understanding God and his Word.  It’s when a head-knowledge of God becomes a heart-knowledge: a heart crying out for Him in your life.

For example, if a person knows that they should be humble, they strive not to be proud.  This could be in sports, academics, etc.  A person who knows this in their head will try to deflect compliments such as “you’re so great at math!,” or “you carry the team.”  They may also refrain from bragging because they know that this would be considered prideful.  This is having a head-knowledge of how to be humble.

If they refrain from bragging solely because they know they shouldn’t, that is not truly living a life of humility.  That is knowing that you should live a life of humility so attempting to be humble by not being proud.  This is not a condition of the heart, but rather of the mind.

There’s a big difference.

When you desire in your heart not to be proud, a life of humility graciously accepts compliments and speaks not of themselves in a high position but boasts in what the Lord is doing in their life and recognizes how unworthy they are.  A heart-knowledge of humility is sickened by pride because it goes beyond just knowing that it shouldn’t be prideful.  A person with the heart-knowledge of humility has been graced with the wisdom to see how pride ruins lives (Proverbs 16:18). They see the benefits of being humble.  They see that they cannot achieve humility on their own.

I am by no means the model of humility, I struggle with pride as much as anyone, however, this example was one I felt I could explain the best.  This concept can be used in anything in life, not just the idea of humility. No one can catch ‘it’ for you.  No one can change a person’s heart or make them see, which is why it’s so frustrating to try to explain.

Has someone ever asked you why you don’t just sin all the time if you believe Christ is going to forgive you anyway?  The simple answer would be because we desire to be like Him, but the reality is that it’s due to a change in heart.  Since Christ has changed us and set us free we are no longer bound to the law, however, we desire to uphold the law in order to honor Him (Romans 3).  Furthermore, we see the blessing and peace that comes from upholding the law and adhering to God’s Word. It’s a win-win situation.

When you have a heart-knowledge of the gospel, you’ve finally got ‘it.’  When you make the Bible verses you read daily a heart-issue rather than a mind issue you’re catching ‘it.’

Once you begin to grasp ‘it’ in your heart crazy anomalies such as “let go of your life to gain your life” start to make sense.

‘It’ is what made Christian rapper Lecrae stand up at his concert and say, “This is not about me, God has gifted me and this is about Him” to thousands of fans who look up to him.  His song, Background, is all about ‘it.’  I admire Lecrae because he has grasped ‘it.’ He gets it.

When it’s a condition of the heart, it’s more than knowing you should or shouldn’t— it’s truly desiring to do it.  Once you get ‘it’ with your heart, your mind becomes transformed as well.

That makes all the difference.

I pray that every day we would grow to grasp ‘it’ more and more.