"I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase"
1 Corinthians 3:6
A Message From the Horne of Africa
"As Hard to Hold As Quick Silver"
04/05/2009
Many moons ago, we sang our brand of "pop" songs. One such song was entitled "Quick Silver." Hard-to-come-by coins were willingly sacrificed to the juke box so that the strains of that old song would waft through the air. Drive-in hamburger joints were patronized because that ditty would blare forth from their speakers. The lyrics of the song were about a guy who was besotted by a gal who was pretty elusive. He would sing, "You're as hard to hold as quick silver, when you kiss and run away. I dream you're mine and then as quick as quick silver all my dreams are washed away."
Now what on earth has that got to do with Christianity? Simple, really! How many people have you known who appear to love the Lord madly at first, then they just slip away. . .like quick silver? One of the hardest problems the contemporary Christian faces is remaining faithful to the Lord during his life all his life. Jesus knew the devil would not interfere with people becoming Christians, but he would simply allow their fervor to die pretty quickly. The devil doesn't even mind if you talk "religious" and act "religious." That is the best form of denial that he has. When people follow their own brand of commitment and ignore the Lord's express commands, they foolishly believe that their relationship with Jesus is intact. The devil laughs. The Lord weeps. The message of Jesus was, "No man having put his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of heaven," Luke 9:62. He also saw several self-deceived disciples who "turned back and walked with him no more," John 6:66, when they found his teaching offensive, John 6:60. John, the Revelator, warned the church at Ephesus that they had "left their first love," Revelation 2:4. Paul marveled that the Galatians were so quickly "removed from him that called them into the grace of Christ unto another gospel," Galatians 1:6.
People have lost their sense of enduring commitment in our modern world. What if our God were that wishy-washy? When the going gets tough, some get going. Yes, they get going all right--right on out of His church. If someone offends them, they punish the Lord by breaking fellowship with Him. No wonder He weeps when we are that fickle. He did not abandon His mission to save lost souls, even when the very ones He came to save, crucified Him. In terms of our pop song above, we might quote the maxim, "Faint heart never won fair lady!" Winners never quit and quitters never win! Persistence is the name of the game.
Quick silver may slip through our fingers and elude us. We learned that when as kids we dangerously removed the mercury from broken thermometers. We were ignorant of the dangers of mercury poisoning. We tried to hold the shining liquid in our hands, but ultimately we lost it. It eluded us. Regretfully, God's people are sometimes like that, too. Sometimes struggling to keep people faithful to the Lord is like holding a hundred corks under water with just two hands. As soon as the task appears to be successful, five pop out...then ten. The arduous task has to be started all over again. Those corks are as "quick as quick silver."
Perhaps that general lack of tenacity also reveals itself when we get married. We promise for richer or poorer; in sickness and in health; for better or for worse. We state it but we don't commit to it. "Poorer, sickness and worse" make people run away like quick silver and lives and dreams lie shattered in the dust. Solomon mentions apples of gold in settings of silver in terms of words spoken, Proverbs 25:11. Let us be as steadfast as apples of gold in a setting of quick silver when it comes to our unshakeable loyalty to the Master and our mates.
Love you all,
Al--"the Horne of Africa."