Shake Us With the Wind, Please.

It's been so warm lately as fall drags closer and closer to winter... that the dandelions have come back. When I take my kindergartners out to recess, they bring back whole bouquets of the beautiful yellow weeds and baptize my hands with them. I'm convinced that dandelions have said "I love you" at least as many times as roses... and they're cheaper and less thorny, too. ;) 

Because of those dandelions, I took a break from Genesis this morning. I'm not bored, I'm not traumatized, I'm not struggling with it. But the message of the dandelions spoke to me this morning, and when I read 2 Peter 1:5-9, I dove in. After all, there's so much good stuff in 66 books; how to keep up with it all? :)

Peter is writing. He says: "For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins."

That little phrase "in increasing measure" seems so simple, but is so easily forgotten. During the times when I let complacency have a front seat in my life, and when I spend very little time actively pursuing the Lord... I have wondered why it is so difficult to hear His voice. 

I think this is why: unless I produce these qualities in increasing measure, consistently honing, practicing, and letting the Spirit shave off and sand down the rough spots... I won't be effective in this battle. 

What battle? 

The one we are fighting right now "against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms" (Ephesians 6:12). Whether you realize it or not, you, I, everyone is in a battle. If you have a heartbeat and are a part of the human race, your battle is not over. Some of us are armed and strong, some of us... are snoring in the ranks.

Don't get caught with your shield down. This battle isn't for the low stakes.

The Holy Spirit sands us, smooths us, refines us as He makes us effective. In all practicality, this process takes consistent self-reflection, consistent searching of our hearts and rooting out the seeds that don't belong there. It's important to make sure we are ready to fight this battle for the Lord, so as we step before Him, we always, always ask Him to show us what needs to be rooted out. Praise God for his amazing grace; He is so good.

I was thinking about Peter's setting as he was writing this, and how he was addressing a church scattered by persecution. I compared it to our present circumstances, where for months, many of us haven't been able to meet in person, instead relying on Zoom or other video meeting places to practice our fellowship. One memorable Sunday in the middle of this discouraging inability to meet in person, our pastor looked directly at the camera and strongly delivered this word: During this time, make yourself a seed. Go, grow your fruit wherever you find yourself. 

As I was praying this morning, before the memory of that sermon had even registered in my mind, I saw a picture of a dandelion seed-plant, one of those ones my kids love to pick and blow and watch the white seeds get carried on the wind. Those seeds -- many, many seeds -- are clustered together on a single head, but when the wind batters it, bends it, bows it over, the seeds release, fall apart, get carried away...

And they plant somewhere else, maybe even out of sight of the other seeds. And then they grow their own seed-plants with many seeds. Have you ever picked weeds and tried to pull up dandelions? Those roots! They do NOT release from where they've been planted. You have to really dig around them to loosen the dirt enough before the whole thing can be pulled out.

So... besides the fact that I just compared the followers of Christ to weeds, which is definitely not where the parable of the sower went... I love the thought that the Lord is using hard times to spread His church, grow His people, plant us firmly, produce new seeds. He brings good out of evil. He begins good things, and He doesn't stop until they're finished. "...He who began a good work in you [spoiler: that's God] will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus [spoiler: that's when Jesus returns for His bride, His church]" (Philippians 1:6).

In increasing measure, we are effective and productive. 

Here's the thing, y'all. Listen up, this is important: We need to send out deep roots, deeper still, so that when the winds come, we are even more effective. If that wind doesn't come, if everything is perfectly still, those seeds don't release and don't carry to other places. If the sun shines and all we do is bask in the still warmth, the entire point of our existence... is pointless -- because we are not spreading our seeds the way we were created to do in the first place. Our pastor called this the Diaspora, the spreading of the church. And the spreading of the church needs the winds of hardship and persecution sometimes to widen its borders.

One verse that has returned over and over for the last several weeks: "He will sit as a refiner of silver..." I've been praying for refinement of the church, but also that as the church goes through the fire and is refined and the dross melted away... that we will not be destroyed. As a refiner of silver watches the metal carefully to be sure it doesn't go above the correct refining temperature, so God does with His church. He heats the crucible until the impurities separate, and He does it so carefully that the essence of the metal grows stronger.

Here's a quote from my good friend Mark Driskill, a pastor who consistently nails the Truth to the wall: "Don't be one of those who are content with being saved, just doing enough work to keep themselves warm and lively! Let nothing keep you back from giving yourselves to be wholly and only priests of the Most High God!"

In increasing measure, for effectiveness's sake. Lord, in Your Name and for Your sake, shake us, bend us, batter us with the winds today for the increase of Your kingdom!