Russell A. Cardwell Online

When I was little, we had a game in our backyard called a tether-ball. Everybody had one. It was like a volleyball tied to a rope, suspended from a pole about 8 or 10 feet high. To play, you would slap the ball in one direction. The ball would circle around the pole, and your opponent would try to slap it back the other way. The object was to get the ball completely wrapped around the pole in your direction.

A lot of people approach God with a misconception: they think that once they become Christians, they will have God on their side, and the world won’t get slap them around any more. Much to their dismay, the world keeps slapping them around as much as it ever did. So what good is it to be Christian? —To have God on your side?

The difference between the Christian and the non-Christian is not whether the world slaps you around, but in what happens when the world slaps you around. It’s the difference between being a volleyball and a tether-ball.

When you accept Christ, he becomes your center-pole. The Grace of God tethers you to him with a strong cord. And as long as you cling to his Word, nothing can separate you from Christ.

When you slap a volleyball, it can wind up anywhere. But when you slap a tether-ball, it can only come right back toward the center-pole. As a Christian, no matter how hard the world slaps you, it only flings you back toward Christ. The more it slaps you, the more it wraps you tighter and tighter in his embrace.

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