Tag Archives: Magnet

The Flywheel

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Spoked flywheel

Spoked flywheel (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Flywheel

A flywheel Is a mechanical device with a significant moment of inertia used as a storage device for energy. They allow for movement and motion without power. While this can be a good thing in terms of mechanics, it is less desirable when it comes to our lives.

Sometimes in life we can unknowingly become disconnected from the Supreme Power Source. In spite of this, like the flywheel, we can continue on with our usual activities often times without notice that true power has been lost. The more things that we are able to maintain in this manner, the easier it is to travel down the road of disconnection unconscious of what has actually happened. This is why habits that foster daily dependence on God are helpful because they allow us to immediately recognize that there is a disconnect occurring.

Churches can be a place of disconnection and power apart from God as well. In spite of the appearance of much activity- worship services, meetings, fellowship gatherings, service activities- if these things are done without conscious dependence upon and dedication to God they become activities done purely by momentum rather than by true Power. The problem with this is that momentum will only get you so far. The slightest bit of resistance can bring everything to a screeching halt.

This is why, though many churches appear vibrant, the are in actuality just moving forward on momentum rather than on True Power. Thus when problems or conflict arise, the flywheel begins to fail, and suddenly the fact that the power is gone begins to draw attention. However, the temptation by many is to blame that which stopped the momentum rather than that which caused the disconnect from the Power Source. In reality, problems that illuminate the lack of power can be helpful and instructive. They present an opportunity to change direction, turn away from the current course and turn back to God. For those who love Him, this is the only sure path.

Iron Filings and Magnetic Forces

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English: Iron filings

English: Iron filings (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Iron Filings and Magnetic Forces

Sometimes all of life seems to be a series of random, unrelated, and chaotic events. When you examine the whole of it- births, deaths, relationships forming, relationships dissolving, successes, failures, goals achieved, and stinging disappointments, it sometimes is difficult to see the meaning in any of it. There is no discernible pattern. Nothing seems to make sense. It can all seem so……random.

To use an illustration- life can sometimes seem like random iron filings scattered about on a piece of blank paper. What we see is scattered blots arranged with no particular rhyme or reason, forming no discernible pattern whatsoever. This remains the case until a strong magnet is applied and the filings begin to submit themselves to the strong pull of unseen forces and orient themselves accordingly. Such a powerful force is only evident by its effect.

This is the power of Christ in our lives. As His power is applied to our lives, all things reorient themselves in submission to His will. The magnetic force of His Spirit pulls the events of our lives together in a way that reveals order and intention. We see patterns instead of randomness. Reason instead of chaos. Purpose instead of confusion. Amazingly, this power effects not just the present and the future, but also how we view events of the past as well.

God, as a Spirit, is timeless and eternal. He is therefore never bound by time’s chains. He breaks the limitations of the past and our memory, understanding the way we see the past as surely as He makes the past come alive in his work. Whether over the eons it took to carve the Grand Canyon or in just the moment it took to form a flake of snow.

So then – it is Christ’s living presence applied to our lives that is the way by which we find wholeness out of brokenness, meaning out of suffering, order out of disorder, and purpose out of purposelessness. When we allow ourselves and our lives to be ordered by the power of His Spirit, we find that He does indeed, make all things new again. Amen.