Analogies are a bit like...

I like Mr Herman Hoeksema. I like him a lot. He has a knack of using analogies that I understand. Now I use them a lot as you may have noticed but I am always conscious that in giving an analogy it is hard to appreciate how it will be received. I mean, I know what I’m talking about and in my own mind the analogical image is crystal clear... but does anyone else get it? Not always.


Mr Hoeksema doesn’t have this problem I don’t think, nor does Peter Jeffery. Each time I have read or heard an analogy by either of them I have re-wound or re-read it a few times, enjoying the laser beam accurate image I believe they intended to portray.

Most recently I liked Mr Jeffery’s example of our sin being like a big strong, nasty Rottweiler (it may have been a Doberman, but it hardly affects the analogy). We need to keep that vicious dog on a short lead and well under control. If we were to let out too much lead or to release it, it would cause untold damage and pain. So the danger needs to be disciplined and kept reined in tightly and under our control and command.

Mr Hoeksema provided another analogy for me this morning as I continued my reading of 'Wonder of Grace'. I shan’t paraphrase him though, this is what he wrote. The chapter was entitled ‘Believing through Grace’ and the particular section was referring to our faith in Christ.

“The difference between a believer and an unbeliever is not unlike that between a living young tree and a dead fence post. You can plant that fence post deep into the ground, but you do not expect that it will show signs of life and develop branches and fruit. On the contrary, it will rot in the soil in which it is planted. But plant a young sapling in the same soil, and it will strike its roots into the ground and draw nourishment from it, grow and bear fruit.”

This reflects something that I mentioned in my last blog about Mr Jeffery’s ‘Whitewash’ sermon. Someone can outwardly be gleaming white, a Doctor who has attended church for 40 years and does many good works... but he can be as dead as that fence post despite being buried deep in the ground of a church if he is an unbeliever. He may even frequently study the bible or expound its contents from a pulpit. But he’s still dead in his unbelief.

Take a believer however, an uneducated labourer who is that young sapling. He has no knowledge of the bible, little understanding of the nuances and details of scripture, he doesn't even think he is doing so... but that sapling starts to bear fruit. The love and grace in his life shines through and bears fruit. Burying his roots deep into Christ, the gospel and His church the sapling grows into a mighty solid oak, rock solid in faith in Christ.

To use Mr Hoeksema’s example (which I semi plagiarised in the last 2 paragraphs) the same said doctor and labourer are fed a meal. The doctor understands the nutritional value of the food, he is aware that the proteins, carbohydrates,  vitamins and minerals are essential for all manner of reasons. He knows the value of the food. But he has a terminal illness which sees him struggle to eat. The food will make him sick and nauseous. He can tell you the value of the food, but rejects the chance to eat it.

The labourer knows none of this. He knows he is hungry, he knows his appetite needs sating and he eats and eats and eats until his plate is as clean as a whistle. He is ignorant of the nutritional benefits of the food other than it makes him satisfied, but he still benefits from the content of what he has taken in - each meal making him stronger.

Oh to be a doctor who can labour during the mornings uprooting fence posts and planting saplings in their place, then spend the afternoons collecting and distributing the fruit collected from the mature, fully grown trees planted years before.

You can’t fault a good analogy can you? (That last one was mine... I do hope it made sense!!!!)