Often when I think of Christians spreading the gospel, certain pictures come into my mind. One of the most common is the picture of a dandelion with the seeds, borne in the vapory arms of the wind, blowing to all corners of the world. But today, while preparing for Sabbath, a very different picture intruded into my thoughts. I say intruded, because I was rather fond of the ethereal dandelion picture and this one certainly wasn't filled with tranquil beauty.
I was sweeping the hallway, trying to corral the most obstreperous balls of cat hair I've ever seen. I still think long-haired cats are lovely, but I don't like sweeping their hair! I was beginning to get a bit irritated with the inanimate cat hairs when the picture intruded.
Maybe spreading the gospel is sort of like being a clump of cat hair. The lessons began to form themselves in my slow brain. (Remember, this blog is about my ramblings, so...)
1. Cat hairs are dead. They have no life in them whatsoever. In order to finish the work, God's people must be dead to self.
2. Cat hairs cannot reproduce themselves. They can only be produced by a cat. We cannot make anyone a Christian. And we shouldn't try to make someone be a copy of ourselves. Only God can produce a changed life. And the only one who should be copied is Jesus.
3. The presence of cat hair proves the presence of a cat in the vicinity. The presence of a Christian should prove the presence of the Christian's God, too.
4. How often does cat hair need to be swept up? Well, I could sweep every day and the next day there will be enough hair on the floors to warrant the floors being swept again. So with God's servants. As the devil tries to clean his habitation of the pesky things, he wakes up the next morning to find that they are back again. Is it any credit to the cat hairs that they keep bothering our house? No, the credit goes to the cat. No credit is due to the Christians who continually harass and render impossible the complete rule that the devil wants to have. The credit all goes to the Creator.
So, I still like the serenity of the dandelion picture. But I needed the less glorified picture of the cat hair.
Happy Sabbath!
I was sweeping the hallway, trying to corral the most obstreperous balls of cat hair I've ever seen. I still think long-haired cats are lovely, but I don't like sweeping their hair! I was beginning to get a bit irritated with the inanimate cat hairs when the picture intruded.
Maybe spreading the gospel is sort of like being a clump of cat hair. The lessons began to form themselves in my slow brain. (Remember, this blog is about my ramblings, so...)
1. Cat hairs are dead. They have no life in them whatsoever. In order to finish the work, God's people must be dead to self.
2. Cat hairs cannot reproduce themselves. They can only be produced by a cat. We cannot make anyone a Christian. And we shouldn't try to make someone be a copy of ourselves. Only God can produce a changed life. And the only one who should be copied is Jesus.
3. The presence of cat hair proves the presence of a cat in the vicinity. The presence of a Christian should prove the presence of the Christian's God, too.
4. How often does cat hair need to be swept up? Well, I could sweep every day and the next day there will be enough hair on the floors to warrant the floors being swept again. So with God's servants. As the devil tries to clean his habitation of the pesky things, he wakes up the next morning to find that they are back again. Is it any credit to the cat hairs that they keep bothering our house? No, the credit goes to the cat. No credit is due to the Christians who continually harass and render impossible the complete rule that the devil wants to have. The credit all goes to the Creator.
So, I still like the serenity of the dandelion picture. But I needed the less glorified picture of the cat hair.
Happy Sabbath!
I like it! Good analogy! As for "Obstreperous", I hadn't heard that word before. And I rather like it too! :)
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