January 24, 2007

Spirit-Broken

I just watched ‘Seabiscuit’, a movie about a famous race horse. Referring to the spirit-broken horse the trainer says, “He needs to learn what it is to be a horse again.” I believe this thought applies to some Christians as well. Estranged from the church for many years, one of the girls raised in the church recently moved home. When Sally’s (name changed) husband was suddenly faced with a medical crisis, she said, “I hope somebody up there is listening.” I’m thinking that Sally needs to learn what it is to be a Spirit-filled Christian again.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Gail;
----The church is like a bed of coals. Each coal needs the heat of the others, we can not stay warm and be isolated as well. Sally was separated from the church physically, but that is maybe the least problematic form of isolation. The church is a spiritual entity, and the heat there is spiritual. The Bible speaks outright about attitudes that we are to have towards one another that perpetuate the heat of the Christian community and spark it in the none-Christian community. When extra-Biblical and non-Biblical attitudes begin to take root in the church, it is like pouring sand or water on the coals. The whole coal-bed can become hopelessly extinguished, as was the Church at Laodacia in danger of becoming.
----God gave the elders authority to protect the church from such attitudes, so the shared warmth would keep all of the coals glowing warm with new life. But when one of the Lord's children begins to physically separate from the gathering, then it becomes important for any of those who know that child to take some of the warmth there, too.