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August 5, 2008
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=========================== TODAY'S ARTICLE ==========================
Cleaning Up Our Act, by Rubel Shelly
When I was in junior high, a lady offered me some tropical fish. When I
told my mother of the offer, she was willing. But we needed an
aquarium.
It was actually my mother's idea to be creative at that point. She
recalled an old-fashioned gas pump that was rusting in an open field.
Most of you aren't old enough to remember, but gasoline pumps used to
have big glass containers at the top. A manual lever pumped gas from
the underground tank into a glass cylinder. Then you put the hose into
your car's gas tank, and gravity did the rest.
Sure enough, the glass in the abandoned gas pump was unbroken. We asked
for and received permission to retrieve it. And the two of us set about
to create the perfect environment for our soon-to-arrive tropical fish.
Only when we got it home did we realize how nasty the tank was. But we
scrubbed and cleaned. Then we put in colored gravel, some plants, and
an aerator. I claimed the fish and put them in their new environment. A
nasty glass tank had become the ideal new home for seven beautiful and
delicate creatures.
They don't want to subject themselves to the same caustic process!
The next morning, two were belly-up. By the end of the day, two or
three more had died. And by the following morning, not one was still
alive. We knew we had done something wrong but had no idea what. So I
went back to the lady who had given them to us and told her with
embarrassment what had happened.
As I was explaining all our fuss and bother with creating just the
right aquarium environment, she interrupted and said she knew what the
trouble was. We had washed the tank with detergent, and that is an
absolute no-no when dealing with such delicate creatures. Our
uninformed efforts at trying to create something beautiful had killed
what we were trying to receive and showcase.
Sometimes we do a very similar thing in families, work environments, or
churches. In our zeal to clean up our lives or those of others, we use
caustic cleansers -- harsh criticism, nagging, condemnation, outbursts
of temper. We think we are doing right and defending decency. But our
harsh treatment of an immature child of God or fragile personality is
more than some souls can bear.
Churches are notorious for being so caustic with a neophyte's problem
with drugs or a family's breakup that the tender and still-in-formation
people involved die to faith from the treatment they receive. Then
people on the outside that see all the dead bodies floating to the
surface (reasonably!) decide they want nothing to do with church. They
don't want to subject themselves to the same caustic process they have
seen kill others.
Conduct yourselves wisely toward outsiders, making the most of the
time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so
that you may know how you ought to answer everyone (Colossians
4:5-6 NRS).
---------
(c) 2008 Used by permission. From Rubel Shelly <rshelly@rc.edu>'s
"FAX of Life" printed each Tuesday. See Faith Matters for
previous issues of the "FAX of Life."
RELATED LINKS:
* Something Better Than a Critic
http://www.heartlight.org/articles/200709/20070904_betterthancritic.html
* New Wood
http://www.heartlight.org/articles/200701/20070106_newwood.html
* Fresh and New
http://www.heartlight.org/articles/200601/20060102_freshnew.html
* RubelShelly.com
http://www.rubelshelly.com/
This article can be found on the web at:
http://www.heartlight.org/articles/200808/20080805_cleaningup.html
=========================== FEATURED PRODUCT =========================
CURE FOR THE COMMON LIFE: LIVING IN YOUR SWEET SPOT, by Max Lucado
In Cure for the Common Life, Max Lucado offers practical tools for
exploring and identifying your own uniqueness, putting your strengths
to work, and living in your "sweet spot" for the rest of your life.
http://shopping.heartlight.org/cgi-shl/link?256
Find more great books, CDs and videos at the Heartlight store! With
each purchase you make, you're helping to support Heartlight's
ministry. Thanks SO MUCH for your help!
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