Let Jesus In

Picture a husband and wife recently married.  The husband has been away on business and returns to his wife in the middle of the night.  The night is cold and damp.  Embers glow faintly on the hearth, like eyes peering into the room.  In a semi-conscious state, the woman hears her husband knock and call.  The drama unfolds at this moment:  "I sleep, but my heart is awake; it is the voice of my beloved! He knocks, saying, "Open for me, my sister, my love, my dove, my perfect one; for my head is covered with dew, my locks with the drops of the night." ³ I have taken off my robe; how can I put it on again? I have washed my feet; how can I defile them?" (Song of Songs 5:2-3)

This is a tiny excerpt from King Solomon's "Song of Songs."  The bride heard the voice of her beloved as he knocked on the door.  He entreated her gently and affectionately, proclaiming his love for her.  In his view, she was flawless and without compare.  He explained the dew had soaked his hair, and he would very much like to come in.  His wife's response is interesting.  Despite his love and affection toward her, she remained unmoved.  She was very comfortable in her warm bed.  She was not wearing her robe and her feet had been freshly washed.  She didn't want to have to wash them again!  Considering the time, opening the door was most inconvenient.  But if she would be honest, these were mere excuses - and selfish at that!  As the story continued, the bride finally made it to the door.  She dolled herself up a bit, even anointing her hands and fingers with liquid myrrh.  Song of Songs 5:6 explains the cost of her delay:  "I opened for my beloved, but my beloved had turned away and was gone. My heart leaped up when he spoke. I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer."

The Beloved is a picture of Jesus Christ, who stands at the door and knocks, calling out our names.  Revelation 3:19-20 says, "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. ²⁰ Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me."  Jesus has come to each one of us, even as the husband stood knocking at the door.  What He has been doing is inconsequential, for He is always about His Father's business.  Jesus does not desire only to purchase us as slaves He orders around, but to commune with us intimately in relationship.  But how do we respond when He prompts us to read the Word?  To rise early and pray?  To go on a walk with Him on a dewy morning when we would much rather stay in bed?  If we delay, we can miss important time spent with Him.

When Jesus knocks on the door of our heart, let us open to Him.  Let us shake off our slumber and rise immediately in response to Him.  Should He rebuke, it is a sure sign of His genuine love.  Let us put aside all excuses, and cease trying to make ourselves look good.  Open the door just as you are, even if we have laid aside the robe of righteousness He has provided.  If our feet are dirty, He will wash them.  He has given us this example for us to follow!  He will do even more than this, for if we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us from all sin and cleans us from all unrighteousness.  Humbling ourselves in repentance will bring Him skipping across the mountains to meet with us with great joy.  Restoration begins when He knocks and we open the door!
 

Love that Governs

God's love is greater than man's comprehension.  Yet in His grace God has demonstrated His great love for us through the willing sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  It is a love so profound and limitless, that if it had size it would extend beyond the known universe.  God's love is deeper than an ocean, more powerful than the crushing weight of the greatest waterfalls.  About 70% of the earth is covered with water, and very little of it has actually been explored.  The best most of us do is roll up our pants and get our feet wet.  When it comes to God's love, the same could be said.  We can swim out a little into it, but to plumb the depths from our vantage point is impossible.

In preparing for a sermon this week, I was reminded of a post written years ago called "The Ligament of Love."  Love is the indispensable bond of perfection in the Body of Christ.  This week I was treated to another practical example of God's love in our lives.  For a few years, I worked at the NASSCO shipyard in San Diego as a private contractor.  Here is a picture of one of the ships I worked on in the NASSCO dry dock, known as "the floater" (by the way, I am not in the picture!):

In the picture, the propellers and rudders of the ship can be clearly seen.  The movement of the propellers drives the ship forward and the rudder allows the vessel to be safely navigated.  Whilst looking at this picture, I was reminded how Christ is intended to be "at the helm" of every Christian's life.  The propellers represent the dynamic power of the Holy Spirit who moves us according to Christ's leading.  As I thought about it, the rudder of a ship is a wonderful picture of the role of Christ's love in our lives.  We are to walk in love, our every action being governed by it.  A ship without a rudder would be adrift and ultimately end in disaster, and Paul says that without love we are nothing.  This ship could be loaded with all the riches imaginable but could never reach the intended port without a rudder.  In the same way, the love of Christ provides resistance to the currents of this world and even the leanings of our flesh so we can fulfill the perfect will of our Captain - who is Christ.

How important it is we keep our rudder in the water!  It is imperative we learn to walk in love, being guided by Christ in everything.  Only then will we be useable by our Saviour, regardless of the talents or treasures we have been bountifully granted by Him.  Ephesians 5:1-2 says, "Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. ² And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma."  May the love of Christ compel us to walk in the manner that fully pleases Him.

Hands On! (part 2)

After writing a post of the necessity for a "hands on" approach to Christianity, I decided it would be important to develop the concept a little further.  While "hands on" training is important for honing skills in a trade, the work done in the classroom is not necessarily what you will face in the field.  In fact, it is safe to assume the work done in a classroom will always be different than the field!  The concepts could be applied, but the differences are many.  The level of fitness required to be a mechanical insulator (potentially climbing up and down a 10 foot ladder hundreds of times in a day, for instance) is not addressed in the confines of a classroom.  In a classroom, the material needed for the job is on hand.  Specialised tools are easily accessible to fabricate metal.  Pipes and vessels in class are not energised, unlike in the field when repairs need to be made on "live" steam pipes.  In class therefore, no care is required to avoid burns.  Insulation in the class setting is applied to pipes without any interference of any kind at eye level.  These conditions are shockingly different from the field, where there could be shortages of the correct-sized material and necessity demands you to "make it work."  Material may need to be carried long distances, and hoisted or lowered with a rope.  Ships are notorious for having all manner of interference:  pipes, electrical, and equipment not associated with insulation work have to be carefully avoided and kept clean.  While classwork is valuable for developing hands, eyes, and skills, there is undoubtedly a large divide from practice in school and actual insulation in the field.

This is very true in the spiritual arena.  It became evident to me when I entered university that in church I had learned answers to questions nobody was asking!  Growing up in church, certain things were a given:  God exists, the Bible is the Word of God without error, and truth is absolute, just to name a few.  We did not spend much time discussing the reality of these facts, because apparently they were self-evident.  But in university, everything was debatable.  Everything was questioned.  It was a good thing for me, because I was forced to carefully examine the things I believed.  That experience helped me to understand the necessity of approaching the Bible and Christianity from a view of unbelief - though I believe myself.  We need to be prepared to give an answer for the hope that is in us in a manner unbelievers can relate to.  The Holy Spirit will give us wisdom and discernment to speak the truth in love and demonstrate through love unfeigned the truth of the Gospel.  How much Christians would learn if we could organise a time to meet with people who hate Christians or deny the existence of God and ask them some simple questions for the purpose of understanding their perspective!  I'll bet their reasons for believing what they believe will surprise you.

When I was in trade school with Local 5 in Los Angeles, we insulated the same pipes with the same insulation in the same arrangement all the time.  It was not long before the work became a routine.  Some sneaky apprentices saved their layouts as patterns - only to have the sizes changed for the final!  The students who did this struggled with time and didn't learn the concepts behind laying out a circular pipe on a flat surface.  Without a proper grasp of the basic fundamentals, I doubt the techniques learned in class were ever applied outside the classroom.  The same thing can happen in church.  We are around "church" people so often that we forget there are so many different issues and struggles people have.  We cannot simply apply a "pattern" to approach people with the Gospel.  Using an insulation pattern in the field with all sorts of interference would be a waste of time.  The pattern we must follow is that of Christ who always did the will of the Father.  It is so important that all we do is steeped in Christ's love as we are led by the Holy Spirit.

There were plenty of guys I trained with who had skills at layout and insulating in class, but their knowledge did not immediately correlate to ability in the field.  Some lacked speed and fitness required to put in a full day of work in sweltering conditions.  Others were confronted with their fear of heights.  In the church many have skill within the church context, but struggle with the idea of speaking to an atheist or someone of another faith.  But no matter where we find ourselves in our Christian walk, the imperative is to take the concepts and truths we learn in the church and apply them in our lives wherever we are.  We are to continue growing in grace and knowledge, seeking to walk in love always.  God desires His people walk skillfully through life.  The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.  As we are led by Christ, may we grow to maturity and bring much glory to His name.

Hands On!

Something I've been mulling over lately is the value of "hands on" experience.  When I was in training to be a journeyman mechanical insulator, my classes were broken into two basic parts:  book work and hands on.  We spent a good deal of time learning about hydronic systems, four and three pipe systems, chillers, boilers, and identifying what pipes or surfaces required insulation.  A bit dry at times, but valuable information.  But hitting the books did nothing to develop the eye, hands, or gain any practical experience of actually doing the work.  Hands on training was the primary part of our training so we could familiarise ourselves with layouts, cutting styrene, metal jacketing, fiberglass cloth, and rubber.  The high quality our teachers required was obtainable only after much practice, repetition, and the development of learned skills.

In the church today, I think the tendency is to have things backwards.  In my view, there is a real possibility we focus primarily on the book work and put little emphasis on the "hands on" portion of our faith.  Can you imagine a hairstylist who spent 95% of time in beauty school learning about the history of scissors and brushes, the anatomy of hair follicles, the chemical properties of various hair products, studying the evolution of hair styles through the centuries, and and only spent 5% of their time in school actually cutting, curling, dyeing, and styling hair?  But this is what we can do with our many Bible studies, home groups, Sunday Schools, prayer meetings, and discipleship classes.  Don't get me wrong - fellowship, prayer, and study of God's Word is vital to our spiritual health and growth.  The point is, how often are you actually getting your hands dirty, learning through experience to apply your knowledge in real life situations?  Unless our faith includes a lot of hands on, we have the Christian skills of a hairdresser who really hasn't styled much hair ever!

There was no person more hands on than Christ.  He invested wisdom and time with His disciples, taught the Word in the synagogue, and He laid hands on the sick and healed them.  He fed the hungry, and discussed spiritual truth with unbelievers.  Jesus went about His Father's business, which involved Him traveling around and doing good.  He had a message to share with the world, and He compassionately shared it with all who would hear.  How important it is that we provide a Christ-like example for our spouse and children, our friends and co-labourers in Christ!  Unless our kids are given hands on experience in following Christ and are taught to live skillfully as we invest ourselves in them individually, how will they practically know what following Jesus looks like?  We can't be content to feed them information alone.

Once we are washed from our sin, our call is to engage in the work of the ministry.  So let's get our hands dirty, people!