Grace line: Stop ‘stinking thinking’ and live free

When elephants are babies, trainers tie the end of a rope around one of their ankles and stake the other end to a huge tent peg. The baby tries to get away but to no avail. Eventually, he ceases to make an attempt to escape and accepts his lot in life.

Over time, the elephant grows into a mammoth creature with enough power to snap the rope with a single twitch of his mighty leg. However, because he still believes he can’t get away, he never tries. He has grown in every aspect but is still held hostage by what he wrongly believes to be true.

“Stinking thinking” is not unique to elephants.

Fleas suffer the same affliction. If you put fleas in a mason jar, they will jump up trying to escape. Repeatedly they bang their heads on the lid until they, too, ingrain the fatal thought pattern. They learn how high to jump before they reach the lid in order to avoid a headache. That height becomes their terminal altitude. They believe they cannot jump any higher. Once you train the fleas to live within limits, you can take the lid off, and they will never jump out. They live in captivity while having everything they need to escape to freedom.

Growing up, I was a gifted athlete. As a quarterback, I could throw the ball where it needed to be thrown. I would hear commentators talk about the talent it took for great quarterbacks to throw the ball that way, and I took it for granted anybody could do it. I believed everybody had more talent, more intelligence, more gifts, more everything than me.

Like the elephant and fleas, I never took risks. I feared failure. I believed failure meant you were a terrible person. I avoided trying anything that might draw criticism. And if I did try, I overachieved because, to me, success or failure was a matter of life or death. I did a lot of things people thought I should do because success brought the blessing of their approval, appreciation and acceptance.

Nevertheless, I never enjoyed much of anything I ever did. I was always afraid of failure and the rejection I believed came with it. I had believed like the elephants and the fleas. Then one day, I really read this passage:

“This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because He first loved us.” (1 John 4:10, 18-19 NIV)

Once I realized God loved and accepted me unconditionally as much as He loved His own son, Jesus, I was free. The lid came off my thinking and the sky was the limit. I jerked up that stake of unbelief that had tied me to the ground for so long, and I spread my wings in Christ and took off.

I mounted up with wings like eagles. Failure became impossible for me because I could do all things through Christ who gave me strength. (Philippians 4:13) I took risks. I started loving everybody, because I did not need anything from them. I did not need their approval or acceptance, neither did I fear their rejection because I got everything I needed from the Lord. He promised He would never leave me nor forsake me.

Jesus has taken the lid off for you, too. He conquered death and the grave for us. He set you free from the bondage of stinking thinking and loved you to life. You never have to fear anything. So go for it. Take risks. Pursue dreams. Live full and free in His great love for you.

This story was originally published July 2, 2015 at 2:49 PM with the headline "Grace line: Stop ‘stinking thinking’ and live free."