Getting to Zero

The other night I went to the casino with a friend.  We went to get dinner at their not so fabulous buffet.  My friend is a pretty successful business person and I really enjoy some of the conversations we have surrounding business.  I hardly ever gamble but my friend wanted to give it a go and started playing the slot machines.  I am a fan of Black Jack myself but since I was with him I decided dabble with a slot machine.  God must allow us to be dealt harsher with in order to keep us safe because I quickly lost what little I allotted to play; in less than twenty minutes I was done.  Unfortunately, my friend was not; let's just say after a couple of hours it was not really his night.  Due to the fact I had been so quickly put out of commission, I sat in the lobby frustrated that I had wasted money that I worked so hard for.  While waiting I realized that practically everyone in that casino was trying to get back the money they lost, after all that is what my friend kept trying to do.  In essence, people were gambling hours of their time trying to get to zero.  Sure some get lucky, but most walk away with less than they brought. 

This concept of getting to zero appears in more places than on Indian Reservations in Vegas style casinos.  I think of debt as another place we strive so hard to get to zero.  We see something we like, convince ourselves this is the key to our happiness and go into debt to get it.  The following week when everyone is going out and we cannot because we have credit card bills, we wish that we could just be at zero.  I am not experienced in being one part of a couple (in fact, I am kind of bad at it), it is common however, to hear people talking about how it used to be when they first met. Husbands and Wives in the midst of a tragic divorce accuse each other of changing and relationally wish they could go back to zero.  Women trying to get healthy work out and eat right so that they can get into a size zero and if they made a size zero for guys, guys would try to get there too.  

Why don't we walk away when we are ahead at a casino? Why do we pay off that last credit card only to immediately go out and charge it back up? Why can't couples hold tightly to their first love? Finally, why do we work so hard to get healthy only to rubber-band back to where we were before?  

I can't answer these questions for everyone, if I could then I would be more successful than Dr. Phil.  In fact, I cannot even answer these questions for myself.  I have debt I don't want and I am not nearly as healthy as I would like to be.  What I can offer is an observation; and if you know me at all you know this is where we get spiritual. . .     

We know that Adam and Eve started at zero in the Garden of Eden. The moment that they fell Man went from spiritually zero to more spiritually in debt than we could ever possibly understand in our human intelligence.  This is where it gets exciting because I realized that life -deciding to follow Christ and spending years striving to be Christ like- is our spiritual "getting to zero."  Here are the implications: we spend at most 80-90 years getting to zero and then we spend eternity going from zero to God's ultimate potential for us.  Furthermore, I can throw out name after name of people who did and achieved great things in their life and yet it is but an insignificant fraction when compared to eternity.  There is a biblical foundation to support this idea beginning with the fact that Adam was responsible for the Earth and naming the animals.  Eve was assigned to aid him in this endeavor. From the beginning God had a task for His creation. In addition, we also read of God using prophets like Moses and Elijah in end times meaning God had more planned for them after they parted ways with their bodies. I believe God will use us just as He does now yet, I believe that this is when we will find the truest fulfillment in our service for the first time ever coming from completely perfected followers of Christ.

As for me, I am going to focus more getting to zero spiritually than any thing else.  After all, the Bible says to seek first the kingdom of heaven and then all else will be taken care of.  If I can offer any hope for those broken trying to get to zero it is that getting spiritually healthy impacts every part of us because it is the foundation of who we are.  Get to zero spiritually and you'll be surprised at the rate other things in your life get to zero.

Go ahead, I dare you LIGHT THE DARK!