Sometimes in life we forget the basics of things. Believe it or not if you haven't ridden a bike in years, you're a bit shaky when you start back. In science this fact is referred to as the second law of thermodynamics: the unchangeable rule that things fall apart and not together. We have all seen the highschool demonstration with a group of billiard balls. When left for a time, the tight nit triangle becomes loser and loser, until finally none of the balls are touching one another. If we consider this for a moment we can see a wonderful allegory between our walk with God and this schoolhouse experiment.
At first, in our lives as Christians, we have definite bounds to which we will go. Limits to what we will talk about, limits to our actions, every side of us is covered so that no part gets out of alignment. However, as time passes, we begin removing such guidelines, thinking that we have grown so much in the Lord that we don't need certain limits any longer. Slowly, but surely, we remove the "rack" from around our lives, and just as the unity of the billiard balls dissolves, so too, does our walk with God. We begin falling away, slipping back farther and farther from heart of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our conversations tend to the nature of more worldly content, our feet begin going with the wrong crowd, and our eyes begin watching the wrong things. Yes indeed, every part of our life slowly begins to drift apart.
However, thanks be to God, there is a cure for this affliction of humanity. We can gather all the pieces back, and as the saying goes: rack 'em up! We must place those bounds around us once more, not feeling as though we have out grown them, but realizing that they are from God. If he never let them go, we shouldn't either, no matter how deep in the Lord we get. After all he is "the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever." (Heb. 13:8). Yet, this process of re-racking our lives is not painless, we have suffered a great deal in allowing our state to become so degenerated. Many times, if not every time, it calls for a open confession or reaffirming of our faith. Those that just yesterday we laughed with about an inappropriate conversation we must now rebuke for their sinful desires. Yes, it is painful, but it isn't a burden. We had been weighted down with the sins that beset us, but thanks be to Jesus who forgave us, we are now free. It is in such times, when we stand or reaffirm, that Christ is glorified in our lives. It is then that we bear in our bodies "the marks of the Lord Jesus" (Gal. 6:17). So I challenge all who read this (myself included) to not allow ourselves to remove "the rack" from around our lives. Let us "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." (Gal. 5:1). |
