Stubborn as a Mule, or Devoted as a Disciple?
Work Is Not the Same as Devotion
Moon Walk
Looking up at the night sky, you’ll see what the ancient Mesopotamians, Egyptians, and Romans all worshiped: that great celestial body, their god and goddess—the moon. Aristotle believed the moon marked the boundary between the perfect heavens and the corruptible Earth. And in the 1800s, rumors swirled that telescopes had discovered bat-people living in its craters. The moon is a nightly fixture that humanity dreamed of as beautiful and unreachable for millennia.
That changed in the 1960s when technology finally put it within reach, and the U.S. and the Soviet Union entered a space race to be the first to land a man on the moon. In a speech to Congress, President Kennedy said, “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth.” The nation responded. It took 400,000 workers and over 20,000 contractors eight years of relentless effort to see Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set foot on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission.
When Kennedy visited Cape Canaveral’s space center, he asked a man, “What’s your job?” The man replied, “Mr. President, I’m helping put a man on the moon.” As the story goes, the President later discovered that the man was just a janitor. But that man understood the assignment just as well as the President of the United States. We might expect a janitor to remain nameless, but he had every right to say he was part of history. So did the third-floor secretary. So did the mathematician in the basement. There are 419,998 nameless souls who, through collective effort, helped reach the unreachable. Buzz and Neil wouldn’t have set a pinky toe on Ptolemy’s crystal sphere without the help of a devoted soul who mopped NASA’s floors.
When Kennedy asked a nation to commit itself, we responded—with devotion.
Devoted to Work
But when I think of devotion, my mind first pictures the work of a painter. The artist begins by learning the fundamentals—line, color, form—then dedicates themselves to imitating a master. After the proverbial 10,000 hours, they may eventually become a master themselves. But I don’t believe that work, practice, or repetition alone is the kind of devotion I’m trying to talk about here.
It’s well known that between 1995 and 2003, Andre Agassi was one of the greatest tennis players of his generation. He was ranked world #1 three times and won eight Grand Slam titles. But Agassi actually hated playing tennis! On the outside, we’d all say he was devoted to the sport, but in his memoir Open, he reveals that he played only because his father pushed him into it. Agassi wasn’t devoted to tennis. He trained. He won. But his heart wasn’t in it.
Devotion isn’t the 10,000 hours you’ve logged. It isn’t erased by the fatal failure of Apollo 1 or shaken by the near disaster of Apollo 13. Devotion isn’t something you reach by winning one more Grand Slam. No matter how hard they try, your father—or your pastor—can’t instill the devoted heart they so desperately want for you. Devotion isn’t a clock that keeps count of time spent; it’s a compass that points the way. Your devotion is a living and active spirit that resides in your heart.
Stubborn as a Mule
Consider Luke’s description of the early church in Acts 2:42: “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching…” The Greek root of devoted means “toward” and “to be strong, steadfast.” It means to adhere to something with steadfast attention, giving it unremitting care, marked by persistence, tenacity, and a steadfast intensity of purpose. In all ten usages in the New Testament, the word carries the undertone of stubborn faithfulness.
So… how are you stubborn? Let me take a guess.
First, you’re stubborn about your identity. You are who you are, and you won’t change for anyone. That may be true, sir, but will you please sit down? We just want to see the movie. Second, you get stubborn when you’re about to lose something important. If you’ve ever said, “over my dead body,” that might count—especially if your doctor is only asking you to eat more vegetables. And how about sunk cost stubbornness? You made a bad investment, but decided to go down with the ship anyway. Your mistakes are not equivalent to the Titanic. You can get off the boat and move on.
Being as stubborn as a mule is not the devotion God requires of you. In Acts 2, we see the early church devoted itself to the apostles’ teaching—another translation could call it the apostles’ doctrine. They weren’t teaching opinions, options, or interesting facts about Jesus. They were stubbornly devoting themselves to the commands and truth about God as passed down from Jesus’ elect apostles. The Holy Spirit’s gift of tenacious devotion to the early church changed the world forever.
Instead of me going on about what that looks like… how about you just read Acts 2. Then Acts 3. And then—Acts 4. Just read what they did with their devotion. Watch what God can do with stubborn Godly people. Maybe we can change the world too, even if it’s only mopping the floor.
Knowing that my advice alone will never produce the devotion God requires, let us pray and confess our sins. (And maybe—just maybe—you’ll read a little of Acts. 😉)
Confessing Sin
Lord Jesus, we confess that we’ve mistaken busy hands for devoted hearts. We’ve logged the hours, chased the goals, and called it commitment while ignoring your voice and neglecting your Word. Forgive our false devotion. Plant in us the kind of faith that clings to you with tenacious love and fix our compass where it belongs—on you alone.
Thanks for praying! God bless you. We’ll read and pray again next Saturday at 8:30 a.m.
I'm not stubborn and you can't convince me otherwise.
Thanks for the reminder, Honey.
Amen