The bible is littered with "going through fire" references and purification through the things that bring the heat in our lives. In fact, there's a part of me that doesn't want to even step into this blog because of the manotany of cliche. However, this process has been slightly tweaked in my life recently and has reinforced some life deep inside of me…so I want to touch on it.
It's true that we all have our own set of unique challenges in life regardless of race, occupation, family, wealth or anything else. Life is presented as an opportunity to us all and it's wrapped in awful (right sense of the word), raw beauty. There are storms, challenges, tests and consequences that we all seem to muddle our way through. Some people learn to be triumphant over it. Some people learn to be victims of it. All people have to face it…even the ones who constantly run.
Every obstacle is also an opportunity. How you look at it is up to you.
Our thoughts lead to actions which lead to habits which lead to behaviors…but if you look deeper than the thoughts you'll find causes or becauses. There are things that happen in our lives that we have little or no control over. I wrote a blog about it that you should look at if you want my thoughts on it all 🙂 You can find it here: http://bennyv.theworldrace.org/?filename=the-great-because-and-the-ultimate-challenge-to-reentry
Regardless, we tend to find comfort in being creatures of habit. We trend towards the usual in life…I'm even convinced that those who make it a point to intentionally drive themselves from the usual are somehow deeply drawn to the comfort of it. Perhaps that continual intentional behavior is their usual…maybe it is their comfort. I find that I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with "comfort." I'm often drawn to things that provide an illusion of rest and an illusion of comfort. Sometimes I replace those things for the real Comforter.
Anyway, when challenges come in life we often see the obstacle and are afraid to embrace the opportunity for growth that it presents. Or in other words, we do what we can to get out of the fire.
People who work with metals know all about the process of taking out the dross to purify the metals. The metal has to be heated to a liquid and slowly the crap inside comes to the surface…When this happens, all you can see is the junk from the outside looking in unless you skim away the dross. The problem is that if the dross isn't skimmed away and the metal cools, the crap goes back to it's usual hiding place within and the impurities aren't as easily seen from the outside.
Unfortunately, I feel like much of Christian culture has been duped. We get that there are hard things that shape us and we know we should embrace the changes He brings to us, and yet we're quick to offer partial sacrifices and quick to save face. Often we work to get out of the fire as quick as possible so that our crap won't be revealed. Christians often are afraid to let their crap show and so they work painstakingly hard with all of their christian discipline to keep cool…or at least luke warm in hope that their junk won't come completely to the surface…and when it does, they have to count the cost of whether or not it is actually worth letting go of…
I had to face some of my dross on the freedom train…
