The Problem of Vertigo

PRAYER OF CONSECRATION

Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. 

Jesus, I belong to you.

I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body as a holy and living sacrifice to you. 

Jesus, We belong to you. 

Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen. 

Romans 6:15–18 (NIV)

CONSIDER THIS

Today’s text tells us a number of things. For starters, it says we are “under grace.” Remember how we talked about gravity last week and how salvation is essentially a shifting of the center of gravity in our lives—from the gravity of sin to the gravity of grace; from the story of Adam to the story of Jesus? 

Our problem comes from our very real lived experience of being caught between these two gravitational pulls—between these two masses. The gravity of Sin is dead and yet it remains a mass that exerts pull simply by being what it is—a dead mass. The gravity of grace is alive and powerful in the Holy Spirit and as a result, it has infinitely more power, and yet until we move fully into its sway there is the old pull of this dead mass from our old life. 

I want you to get your Romans journal or some other medium to write on and grab a pencil or pen. Now, draw two circles side by side and overlapping by maybe one-third. (Yes, it’s a Venn diagram). On the left side of the left circle, write the word sin. On the right side of the right circle, write the word grace. Now in the overlapping part of the circles write the word vertigo. 

Yes, most of us, most of the time, live in vertigo. You know what vertigo is, don’t you? It is a loss of balance or a disoriented sense of gravity, leading to dizziness and a compromised ability to walk with any stability. It is the state of being caught between the mastery of grace and the mastery of sin. We will make camp next week in the country of Vertigo (aka Romans 7) but I wanted to go ahead and get the concept in play and into the itinerary. 

Did you notice the little word I sneaked into the dialogue in the last paragraph? It was, “mastery.” Vertigo is the country where we learn the hard lesson that we cannot achieve mastery over sin or grace. It is where we learn to follow a new master. We are not masters who are mastering anything. We are, in fact, under mastery. We are either mastered by sin or mastered by grace. The text makes this abundantly clear today:

Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?

Vertigo comes from trying to maintain two masters. Truth be told, it comes from trying to be the master of yourself—even as a Christian. Many people spend most of their life in this predictably miserable place. This is what it means to be a selfish person. We try to be a Christian and yet our old self remains held in the gravity of sin. It is because though you may salute Jesus as Lord, you have never fully and in an ongoing way given him the undivided allegiance of your heart. I am tossed to and fro by the waves of my rising and falling levels of commitment and resolve to resist my unsanctified desires or to indulge them. It is time to move beyond the slavish ways of your own self-will and sense of commitment and into a life of everyday abandoned consecration to Jesus—as Master—as Lord. This is the letting go of the old self and the taking up of the new life. Let’s give Paul the last word on this today:

But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

THE PRAYER

Yes, Father, I want to move from this place of tortured vertigo and fully into the country of Grace. I am tired of sin still exercising gravity in my life and succumbing to it. I am tired of the pattern of teaching that tells me to try harder to be better. I am weary of renewing my own sense of commitment and willpower. Grace can’t be another name I give my own best efforts. In fact, I am tired of endlessly asking Jesus to help me with this. I am ready to say, Jesus, have me! Yes, Holy Spirit, that is what I say, Jesus, have me! Praying in his name, amen. 

THE QUESTION

Do you identify with the dilemma described in today’s entry? Does the Venn diagram help you to see it differently? Are you caught in the middle ground of vertigo? Ready to move fully into the country of Grace? 

THE HYMN

The “All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name” hymn festival continues today. We will add verse 5 today. It is hymn 279 in our Seedbed hymnal, Our Great Redeemer’s Praise.  

For the Awakening,
J. D. Walt

P.S. Summer Awakening Essentials Course: How to Receive an Outpouring of the Holy Spirit—Registration Open

Dan Wilt and I are gearing up for what we pray will be a rich opportunity to meet with Jesus and let him teach us about the ways of the Holy Spirit. We will be drawing from the wisdom emerging from the outpouring at Asbury University this past winter. We are learning so much. The course will run three Monday nights for ninety minutes a session. In order to maximize participation, we are not putting a price on the course this summer. There will be an opportunity to make an offering but not required of course. You can see all the details and register here. 

Subscribe to get this in your inbox daily and please share this link with friends.