Missing the Power?
If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal (1 Corinthians 13:1).
A few days ago the lights in our house started dimming, flickering, and fading out.
The power company said we had a “hot leg failure,” installed a “service saver” and promised to return in a few days. Now we have a portable transformer plugged in at our meter.
Prior to the fix, my house was still hooked up to the grid, but we were only receiving a trickle of energy. Everything looked like it was okay, but there was no power to sustain any task requiring real effort.
Consequently the stove appeared “on.” but wouldn’t cook. And the refrigerator light shone invitingly, but without enough energy coming in at the back to deliver cool air, much of our food spoiled.
I couldn’t help but think about my spiritual life. How often do my little blue digital lights read “on,” “plugged in,” or “saved;” but there’s such a pitifully limited supply of light and life that all I do is sing hymns, read the Bible, and wave my hands – while the real work of the Gospel of Love remains undone.
What am I, a display piece? A museum exhibit? A sounding gong? A clanging cymbal? Or am I a fully activated child of the living God?
The “mainline” Christian church of the 21st Century is fading away in too many locations, for want of a more faithful, dedicated, fully operational connection to the power source. We have too many cases of “hot leg failure,” and too many of us stand there, our “on switch” glowing a nice shade of iridescent blue, comfortably “saved,” while inside the Good News is going to rot.
So plug-in, connect all the way to the heart, invite the Spirit to fill you with power, and activate the potential you never even imagined you had.
Today is a good day to give it all back to Jesus. I’ll see you in church. – DEREK
