Getting Up: The Initial Effort Required to Begin

A Wake Surfing Devotional

Getting up on a wake board is harder than it looks. You're in the water, holding a rope, the boat is accelerating, and suddenly you're supposed to pop up on the board while the boat is pulling you forward. Your instinct is to grip the rope tighter, to tense up, to fight the pull.

But fighting doesn't work. You have to relax. You have to trust that the boat's power will pull you up. You have to commit fully – not halfway committing and pulling with your arms, but letting the boat do the work while you position yourself correctly. And then, suddenly, you're up. You're surfing the wake.

But that moment of getting up requires effort. You can't just float in the water and expect to wake surf. You have to position yourself. You have to hold the rope. You have to be ready when the boat accelerates. You have to commit.

This is exactly what becoming a Christian is like.

You can't just believe about Jesus intellectually and be a Christian. At some point, you have to get up. You have to commit. You have to position yourself – confessing sin, accepting grace, submitting to Jesus. You have to take hold of the rope (God's offer of salvation). And then when God accelerates His work in your life, you have to let yourself be pulled up into a new way of living.

Proverbs 22:6 says: "Start children off on the way they should go; even when they are old they will not depart from it."

Start. Get positioned. Begin the journey. That initial effort matters.

Matthew 28:19-20 says: "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you."

Go. Make disciples. Get them up. Help them start.

2 Corinthians 5:17 says: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!"

New creation. That happens when you get up, when you commit, when you take hold of salvation.

Romans 10:9-10 says: "If you declare with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved."

Declare. Confess. Get up. Make the commitment public and real.

Philippians 2:12-13 says: "Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose."

Work it out. Get positioned. Position yourself for God's work in your life.

Tomorrow's Practice: If you've never fully committed to following Jesus, get up this week. Stop floating in the water. Position yourself. Confess Jesus as Lord. Take hold of His rope. Let Him pull you into a new life. If you're already a Christian, identify one area where you need to "get up" spiritually – commit more fully to something God is calling you toward.

Reflection Question: Have you fully gotten up – made a complete commitment to following Jesus – or are you still floating in the water, not fully committed?