March 01, 2013
Pot Sticker
My search for a new
pair of brown, lace-up shoes has been frustrating. I finally settled on a pair
that cost $135, even though they were not exactly what I had in mind. The
stitching on the inside of the shoes was sewn with invisible nylon thread and
on both sides of the tongues the stiff stubble poked out. While I was writing out
my check, one of the young sales women took the shoes in the back room to work
on the prickly threads. After about four tries, one of the other young clerks
suggested that I might fix the problem by putting a little moleskin over the
pointed nubs. Seriously? I suppose if I had been head-over-heels in love with
the shoes, or if they were on sale at 70% off their original price, it would
have been one thing. But she was asking me to conform to the shoes, rather than
the shoes conforming to me. I’m wondering if this situation isn’t similar to our
new attire when we become a disciple of Christ. We are given clothes of
righteousness and the indwelling Spirit, but we expect the Spirit to mold
Himself to us the way we are. We are to be clay in the potter’s hands, but we
certainly didn’t expect Him to have the character of nylon thread that pokes,
prods and make us uncomfortable until we conform to His likeness. “And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect
the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever–increasing
glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” (2 Cor 3:18 NIV)
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1 comment:
Gail;
-----Yet the Holy Spirit does not invade the person, destroying his sense of identity, erasing his ideas and ambitions and feelings, and forcing him into a being not his own. Jesus met a man so taken by a spirit in the country of the Garasenes. Muhammad experienced this kind of spiritual invasion. It was Gabriel, he claims, who laid upon him with crushing weight until he felt like he would die for lack of breathe. There, on the edge, threatened with death, he received the imperative which would keep him alive: deliver to the world Allah’s message. For a year he was suicidal, trying to escape what was suffocating his being. Over the edge, walking in death, he was consumed by his captor into producing the torturous ideology which today explodes its “saints” in restaurants full of beloveds.
-----God is not interested in consuming people. He is interested in loving them. The fit He makes for us is tailored for each, rather than irrespective of each. It’s a marvel to see Him draw out and discard one form of error from one person while He forbears and makes use of the same error in a different person. It is as if the nylon thread ends of each pair of shoes are uniquely positioned to interact in a precisely chosen way with the being of the person donning them. It’s like there is an actual honor and desire in God’s heart for that of the wearer to be groomed. His love beams from the careful tailoring of His presence into each individual life, prodding and poking where it does good, comforting and pleasuring where these are needed, until the person becomes the process and goes forth doing likewise to others.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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