A boiling pot of sin.

This may seem somewhat tenuous and a rather incomplete thought, but this is the sort of path my mind takes when I'm driving to and from work.

I am umm-ing and ahh-ing about studying a Masters degree in 'Social, emotional and Behavioural Difficulties'. I work in a special needs school for boys with such problems and clearly it is a good choice of continuing professional development.

I was considering as I drove the nature of the boys and their problems and one of the given module titles for the MEd when I came up with one of my analogies/illustrations. The boiling pot on the stove.

Sometimes the lads at my school quite literally need to 'boil over' to let off some pressure. Literally they need to 'pop' as a way of venting the anxieties and frustrations of their lives and normally do so physically and emotionally as they are not equipped to manage such situations and feelings successfully. So the image is of a saucepan of water simmering, then boiling. The boiling of the water becomes more and more violent until it boils up and over the side of the pan. There is a lot of sizzling and foaming. Hot water splashes and any hand near the pan is at risk of getting scalded. The pan is stained and a big wet puddle is left surrounding the pan, which ultimatley has to be mopped up.

Now this pot if not watched carefully can easily boil over again. Certainly you wouldn't fill it up again then walk away from it. Why? Because it'll just boil over again!

To prevent the pan boiling over and making a mess it has to be watched and the flames which heat it have to be controlled to ensure it doesn't get over heated. When the pan is boiling there are things you can do to control it and ensure that it doesn't bubble over. You can turn the heat down, remove some water or take the pan off the hob completely. More specifically you can be more proactive and consider if the pan is big enough and deep enough to be placed on the flame in the first place.

In context with the boys at school - we have to monitor their emotions as they 'simmer'. If they look like they're going to boil over we have to manage the heat (or the antagonist), remove some of the boiling contents (the content of the problem) or if we can remove the 'pan' from the heatsource altogether and place it somewhere it can cool down (take the boiling 'boy' and give him an environment where there is no antagonist to get him boiling again).

Now none of these are easy. They require skill and understanding and most importantly it requires a commitment to keep revisiting that boiling pot and decide quickly which way is best to prevent a 'boil over'. Ultimately I suppose we're trying to teach the 'pan' to monitor itself, the heat that affects it and we try to instil in the pan the ability to remove itself from the heat early.

So how does this apply to the Christian?

The boiling water is sin. We are the pan. The heat is temptation.

Placing oneself knowingly on the heat of temptation we are at risk of allowing the sin in our lives to boil over, making a horrible mess that takes time to mop up. The boiling waters of sin also pose a risk of scalding to anyone close to the pan.

As we try to teach our boys at school to not put themselves on a direct source of heat, should the Christian also not place themselves knowingly in the way of the heat of temptation? We cannot, of course, always avoid heat/temptation but that doesn't abdicate us of our responsibility in trying to spot all potential sources of heat.

We should surely pursue the shade of the fellowship of brothers and sisters in Christ; the calming, soothing breeze of the Holy Spirit and immerse ourselves in the cooling waters of His Word.

"Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." Matthew 26: 41

"Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him." James 1: 12

"And said unto them, Why sleep ye? rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation." Luke 22: 46

Lost in the Labyrinth

Last Lord's Day morning at Fole Chapel the preacher delivered a sermon on Exodus 15: 23-27, you can listen to it here. The verses in question tell of the arrival of the Israelites at Marah, where they found water (after 3 days without), but it was bitter. God directed Moses to cast a tree into the waters and they were 'made sweet'.


Only 3 days had passed since the Israelites had been delivered miraculously from the hands of Pharaoh. The waters had been parted and the Israelites saved. Despite this murmurings were heard after the 3 days without water. This was to set something of a pattern for the wilderness journey and persistent griping, moaning and backsliding were heard and seen. It appears the Israelites were rather an ungrateful lot... or so it seems to us.

They had God with them (in the pillar of cloud and smoke), they had been delivered, they were witness to many signs and wonders... yet they persisted in turning back to Egypt in mind and spirit so often. They moaned at Moses, worshiped idols and generally behaved like... well... like sinners.

It is so easy for us to tut and shake our heads at their ignorance, but we so often do the same don't we? Blind to our folly at the time, ignorant of our offences to God - but then later, looking back through the wilderness we cringe and wince at our own sinfulness and ungodliness.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing and I'm sure there were many Israelites who frequently chastised themselves and each other for their unbelief and lack of faith, just as we do from day to day.

During that sermon an image came to mind. It was of a scene in the film Labyrinth. For those of you fortunate enough to have not seen it the basic premise is a young girl who has to find her way through a mystical (and large) Labyrinth to rescue her baby brother from some evil king type played depressingly by David Bowie. She suffers many trials and difficulties on her quest and befriends all types of strange creatures and characters (I'm sure we can all relate to that!) I digress, the image that was in my mind was a scene where as she nears the end of her journey the entire labyrinth is sprawled out behind her.

As I said hindsight is a wonderful thing. Certainly looking back on my life over the last year I can see some of the dead ends I have come to, the pitfalls and the traps. But I can also see how God has guided me safely through to where I am now. I can look back over the labyrinth of my life and see where I took wrong turns and even headed in the wrong direction. But I can also see many of the learning experiences this afforded me. God guided me clearly so many times, but I was often blind to it. In recent times I have enjoyed the feeling of my hand in His and the assurance of being guided clearly and safely through perilous times.

As we look back over that maze of life and see our errors and sins surely we should be thankful. We should praise God for being there watching over us, offering us reassurance, providing the help and support we need when we need it, letting us 'go it alone' when we have to but never leaving us abandoned.
We aren't very good are we when it comes to a new trial or tribulation? We are excellent at reviewing such times with great hindsight and understanding but really we should have foresight enough to know that God will guide us in all things. James 1:2 in the ESV puts it well:

"Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,"

And we should, should we not, also remember that Romans 8:28 tells us:

"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."

I hope that you and I both recall our past experiences and God's provision next time we meet a dead end or obstacle. We should learn from looking back at the labyrinth, granted, but we'd be better served in recalling the journey while looking onward and upward at the route through the maze of life to the hill top where the cross stands and Glory awaits.