Threatened by a ten foot monster

“And be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ – the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith” (Philippians 3:9).

There is an old African legend about a ten year-old boy named Fungai who was threatened by a ten foot monster with a lion’s body and a human head. The monster declared that he would eat Fungai, his two little sisters, and his mother. Because he was the man of the house (his father had died several years before), it was up to him to protect his family.

That evening as the sun set, he gathered up his father’s assegai (or spear), and walked out into the bush to face the monster, trying mightily to control his shaking hands and quavering voice.

He could hear the terrifying growls of the monster in the undergrowth coming toward him when suddenly he heard a grunt of surprise, then the sound of a rapid retreat, the crashing and snapping of branches and twigs as the great monster fled the little boy!

What had happened? Who had come to rescue Fungai in his dire straights? He looked around to see who his benefactor was. Then his eyes fell on the ground in front of him. The late afternoon sun had cast a giant shadow before him, making a slightly built ten year-old appear to be a huge man! The monster had run from Fungai’s shadow, believing the shadow represented an uncommonly big man carrying a spear as long as a tree trunk!

When we face life with its problems, we don’t have to face it alone. We can do it with the help of God. We do so with a “righteousness” that is “not our own”. If we will allow him, Christ will stand in our place.

And he casts a very big shadow!

Stan Mitchell @ www.forthright.net

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