Happenings 17 October 2019

How can molecules of water defeat molecules of rock? And yet they do. I have seen buttresses of rock carved and shaped by the ocean, and mighty coastlines worn down by the waves. It doesn’t happen quickly. It may take centuries or more. The rock is obstinate and clings to its own; it fights erosion. But the tide is patient and every time it laps against the stone, the water weans it a little bit more away from its defences. I have seen this same dynamic in my own life – have you? The walls I put up against God over the years have slowly been eroded by his love and his Spirit’s power in me. His waves are mighty but also gentle, and sometimes I hardly even realise how much he has won me over. I think this is also a valid metaphor for mission. As we embody the love of Christ in the world, sometimes the results can be dramatic and instant. But more often than not, we are one of the many tidal-surges of love that God sends out into his world to shape hardened hearts into softer contours. God plays a long-game, and as his instruments, so must we. Don’t give up showing his love to those who are yet to recognise it for what it is. And pray. Pray at least as obstinately and resolutely as the hearts we face, that ‘the earth may be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea’ (Habakkuk 2:14).

In Him,
Murray