10th October 2012

Lava lamps may be the “poor man’s aquarium”, not to mention “little carbon thieves”, but they are very cool. Well actually, very cool and very warm and very cool and very warm for as long the electricity bill is paid. As I was pondering the rising wax the other night, I remembered an old saying in theological circles: “The same sun that melts the wax, hardens the clay”. It’s a statement from the context of discussions about the sovereignty of God, namely that the same God who softens a heart, can harden one too. The statement paints a picture of a God who is not to be trifled with, and inspires awe, strips the human mind of its pride, and breaks the illusion that we can have God on our own terms.

On the positive side, how wonderful to think that God can actually melt the human heart. It is born so hard, so proud, so resistant to grace, and left to its own initiatives becomes increasingly calloused and confused. But in the gracious hand of God, and under the influence of the breath of His Spirit, what warmth can be generated and life imparted. And a warmth too that can be maintained and sustained. Captured in the lamp of grace, where the bill has been paid for eternity (let the reader understand), the heart can grow in its passions for God. Unlike the lava heat, which is heat without intelligence, the God who melts the human heart, fills it with life and sense and power. And then watches it, not with the detached amusement of a couch potato, but with the delight of a Father who loves to see His children grow.

DM 10^th October 2012