The Chisel (and putting out fires)

The commercialization makes me nauseous. I wonder, who came up with this idea?

Hypothetical Scenario:
"Hey Jim..."
"Yeah, Bill?"
"So after rollin' off of my wicked high the other day, I woke up from my 42-hour slumber, and check out the dream I had..."
"This oughtta be good, Bill."
"I dreamed that there were naked babies flying all around like fairies, shooting people with arrows. And then they were in love!"

The 'Reality':
"Valentine's Day wouldn't be the same without a visit from Cupid, the winged cherub with a bow and arrow which he uses to place people into love. The origins of Cupid can be traced back to the days of the Roman Empire. Cupid is a Roman god, the symbol of passionate love. (He is the son of Venus, who remember is the Goddess of Love.) Cupid fell madly and completely in love with Psyche, whom it happened was a mortal. This did not please Venus at all and she gave Psyche a particularly hard time, consistently tempting her and driving her off. Eventually, through a small series of human faults, Psyche was tempted to look into the ‘box of beauty’ and when she did, she unleashed a deep slumber onto herself. Cupid then came to Earth and searched the world for her. He found her in her deep sleep. His love for her was so strong though that he was able to take the sleep from her and place it back into the box. Then he used an arrow to pierce her heart and awaken her." (from www.essortment.com)

So, I'm not sure who would be considered more insane, Bill or the delusional mastermind of the Roman gods...

It's funny what constitutes a holiday. Especially this one: it's about love. These days, it is rare to find anyone able to rightly define or describe love. Our society will tell us that the only way to know if you're in love is if you have sex. So one idea is sex=love. I thought that, outside of marriage, sex=fornication=lust. And even inside marriage, sex is only an expression of love, not love itself.

Love is a chisel. Prior to knowing it and enjoying the benefits of truly loving and being loved, every person is a rock-solid piece of unformed hardness. It takes tools to change that. Have you ever seen Mount Rushmore?By definition, love must be a sharp tool. The hardness of our hearts makes us to judge. It makes us to ridicule. It makes us angry and hateful and condescending. It makes us full of lust for all sorts of things. It makes us unwilling to listen or to care or to compromise. But most of all, it makes us at odds with our Creator, the God of the Universe. Our unchiseled mass of hardness creates within us a deep desire to oppose God, thereby making us enemies against Him. Only a sharp tool, pounded by a strong blunt force, is able to break off all that mess.

Today, Kattie and I attended a couples workshop all day. It had some decent insights and a few quality things to take away, but for the most part, it was a very interesting experience. To us, it seemed as though the overwhelming theme of the seminar was "How to not get divorced." That seemed very strange. There were statistics detailing divorce rates and declines in marital enjoyment, followed by ways to avoid these tragic threats of "not making it." We would have thought that instead of trying to help people to not get divorced by focusing on the factors that threaten a good and lasting marriage, one might try to show the glorious riches of such an amazing journey, thereby exciting people to pursue one that would last forever. Of course, it is good to be aware of the pitfalls, but focusing on them seems pessimistic. It's a bit discouraging and negative. Like damage control. Like putting out fires. We prefer to swim in the everlasting fountain of promise - knowing that our marriage is entrusted to Jesus who makes all things new and chisels us with the refining power of His unending love.

The other night, we were in bed waiting to fall asleep and the Lord showered us with His grace. The love that He continually shows us is a love that never fails. I could tell something had been bothering my wife all day, and it often takes her a little while to process her thoughts before she shares them with me. So as we laid there, she began to share, and Jesus began to chisel. Unbeknownst to me, I had been acting very selfishly, neglecting a very important aspect of our marriage. I simply didn't see it. But she did. As she shared it, the Lord began to soften my heart. He chiseled away part of me that was unfruitful. Proverbs 27:17 has always been a mindful verse with me, even since the early days of my journey with Jesus: "Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another." Ever since then, our marriage has been even more enjoyable, and my wife has been all the more beautiful to me. Love is a chisel.

The beauty of all this is that it chiseled Jesus all the way down until there was no more to chisel. The indescribably marvelous picture above, called la Pieta, was sculpted by Michelangelo, and now resides in the Vatican. A striking reminder of the power of this chisel called love, Jesus personifies it. He was chiseled so much, worn down all the way, that He became the most renowned and refined piece of art that God has ever shown to man. "No greater love has a man than this: that he would lay down his life for his friends." Jesus did just that. And He likewise imparts that same empowering love to us by refining us by it. Marriage is not like putting out fires. It's like becoming an intricately detailed sculpture for all to see the truly amazing handiwork of God.

Arrows kill. Love is a chisel.