HOW TO PREVENT RUSTING

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When I was a child of about kindergarten age (a reach back of more than eighty years), I remember my father's sharpening wheel in his garage workshop. It was made of some kind of rough, abrasive stone. He didn't have an electric motor until many years later. 

If I promised to be careful, Dad allowed me to turn the handle of the wheel while he held a sickle blade, a file, or an ax against the wheel to sharpen it. It was fun to see the sparks fly as the wheel whirred and the tool emerged with a new cutting edge. Dad squirted lubricating oil on the blade during the sharpening process.bout kin
my father's sharpening wheel i
f more than e(a reach back of more than eighty




My Czech grandmother who lived with us brought a lead-gray sharpening stone with her from Europe and she took charge of keeping all our kitchen knives sharp. She also applied oil to the stone to get a fine edge on the blades as she rubbed them skillfully against the stone. She put more oil on afterward to prevent rusting, as did my Dad on the sharpened sickle.

For many reasons, we as Christians may grow dull in our lives and witness as the years go by. We may become slack and lazy in nourishing our spiritual lives. On the other hand, we may be too active or busy without taking time to renew our own cutting edge. If we continually give of ourselves to others in teaching, preaching, or other service, we become depleted. Without continual attention to our spiritual keenness, we soon become instruments that God can no longer profitably use. 

We must take in fresh resources to build ourselves up. Spending time alone with God in prayer and His Word is not a luxury or an option. It is essential. Routine, casual reading of the Word of God will not in itself restore our blunt edge. We need the lubricating Oil of the Holy Spirit to quicken us. It is His holy anointing that keeps the sparks in our witness, in our service, and in all the relationships of our daily lives. That applies to the homemaker, the student, the wage earner, and retirees as well. 

The Oil of the Spirit protects us from damaging rust. Grandma used to say that no knife was so dull that it was beyond restoration. She could still obtain an edge like a razor. Her old favorite meat cutting knife had a blade so thin that the straight edge was worn to a curve with much use and many sharpenings over the years. 

The Holy Spirit is the Great Restorer of cutting edges in anyone's spiritual life. Jesus promised to “make all things new.” No one is beyond restoration. We can't live on past experiences or yesterday's sparks. Our lack will soon be exposed.

 

RUT OF YESTERDAY

I'm inclined to ride on the past:

on previous experiences with God

bygone touches of His grace

starving on stale manna

snacking on scraps of blessing

leftovers from days on higher ground.

I hang on to the coattails

of what has been:

the way of least resistance.

Who will know?

I hide behind my reputation

gained in a former day

and camouflage my deficiency.

But the facade crumbles:

my aridity is exposed

my weakness shows and soon

there are those who observe

how sluggishly I walk in the Spirit

that I face forward but

slide backward losing ground.

The upward way, the onward way

is to keep advancing

and not hiding in shadows of the past

but keeping pace with God.

Lord, touch me with Your fire

inspire me to press on from glory to glory.

Renew me again and again.

Don't let me get stuck in the hitherto

bogged down in the already

in that muddy rut of yesterday.