Good Monday as you face the new work this day. Only this day? Yes, none of us are facing tomorrow yet. The date of disaster promised in the mailing is not yet here. Why worry about that date before it arrives? Jesus told us that one day's troubles are enough for that day. He also said that He has overcome the world.(John 16:33) Does it seem to you like Jesus has overcome the world? No, from my limited point of view I must admit that the world seems ready to pounce on me and tear me apart. But, "we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, and are called according to His purpose." (Rom 8:28) Therefore, Jesus uses the world for our good because He has overcome it? Yes, I think that is a good way to put it. Imagine the frustration and consternation of our enemies when they find that in the end all of their plots and snares only worked to strengthen and renew our faith in God!
How does overcoming work? For we are overcomers in Christ, we should learn how this thing goes. Let us try it in story form. Imagine that you and I have never operated a tractor before this and we need to plant a field. And not just any field, this is 1600 acres of dirt and rocks, hills and gullies, just the kind of thing that even working together we could not get planted before the spring rains arrive. The first thing we must do is attend a safety lecture, complete with the slide show or horror movie. A man from the Dept. of Agriculture swoops in, runs through the safety commandments and then shows us the horrors of farm injuries in all their gory detail, and then he is gone.
Now we are frightened. Some students in the class take off out the door and never come back. Their field will never get planted. The remaining students band together a little, there's nothing quite like a little adversity to bring us closer. We look up and an old farmer walks in to the class. "The farming authority likes to lay down the fear," he says, "but I'm here to teach you the right reasons to plant this field. The old farmer proceeds to teach us the parts of a tractor from the main manual of farming. We are beginning under the farmer's discipleship to overcome our ignorance and fear of farming. Then, the easy part is over, and the farmer leads those few remaining students - more left the class when things seemed a bit boring - out to the field.
In the field sits a smoke-breathing monster. The farmer turns to the class and introduces Ol' Brimstone, a tractor from some previous age of mechanical monstrosities. Once we know how to operate Ol' Brimstone, we are assured, we will have no trouble operating any tractor out on the farm. He pats the beast affectionately, "She's kind of like the world, turn your back on 'er and she'll give you a good bite," the old farmer warns. The tractor pops its exhaust loudly and spits a chunk of glowing hot metal right at the iron seat in what appears to be an iron cage, probably welded there to make sure the student farmer doesn't make an escape should Ol' Brimstone decide to plunge off a cliff.
Then, to your horror, the old farmer points to you, yes, you, and tells you to climb up on Ol' Brimstone and start plowing. The beast's chugging changes tone, sounding a bit like a smoky sort of evil chuckling. Trembling, and trying not to show it, you climb up into the hot-metal target zone. Looking around you see levers, pedals, a cracked and rusted old steering wheel, and some gauges that may have worked once, but surely don't seem to have much to say right now. The beast seems to lean forward. Did the gears just slip a little? You can feel the power of the engine in every joint and bone. Suddenly, the farmer has climbed up beside you. He speaks in your ear. "Didn't think I would let you take Ol' Brimstone out alone, did you?" He cackles a little at his own wit, but now you find it charming in a way.
The farmer takes you around the field, telling you every detail that you need to know, right when you need to know it. Your ignorance of the beast is overcome and your fear fades. At times you seem to be headed for disaster, but the old farmer says to be patient, turn when he says, trust in him. Ol' Brimstone spits out another chunk of metal right at your face, but, quick as a cat the old farmer grabs it out of the air and tosses it overboard. You see that his hands are burn scarred; that explains the roughness you felt as he guided your hand to the right levers at just the right time. Before you realize it, the ride is over and the farmer has patted you on the back and pointed at another student.
Immediately, you begin telling me about the ride and especially the farmer. Before you took the ride, you trembled with me at the sight of Ol' Brimstone, now you are a witness to the strength and self-sacrificing grace of the farmer. He has overcome Ol' Brimstone and showed you the way as well. When my turn comes to mount, your witness has soothed my fears and I learn much more quickly. Ol' Brimstone takes us through some dark gullies, some rough patches with many rocks, but the old farmer is always there, grabbing the blazing chunks spat back at us. The old farmer uses all of this for our training, for our good. One day, he tells the class as Ol' Brimstone pants behind him, a new Earth with limitless fields will be ours to plant, and Ol' Brimstone will be retired forever. That, we agree, sounds like the best thing we could ever imagine.
God bless you today as you face those rough patches with Christ Jesus,Bucky
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