When Blessings Can Become Obstacles

“Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. . .” Jesus. (Mark 2:17b)

Blessings can become obstacles.

Everything needs a little tender-loving-care once in a while. The heater on my ’52 Chevy pickup sprang a leak. Coolant began to drip all over the floor. During the process of piece-by-piece restoration, I didn’t need to deal with the heater. Now after 73 years of service, it was time to give it the attention it craved.

Removal and teardown went very smooth. I got to the removal of the heater core – the part of the heater that allows hot water from the engine to be brought in and used as the heat source. One of the last steps involved the blower motor. I needed to remove the fan blades from the motor shaft. This should have been easy. All I had to do was remove a well-machined setscrew from the collar holding the fan blades to the shaft of the blower motor and we would be home free.

I did what I should. I made sure I selected a screwdriver whose tip fit snuggly into the slot of the setscrew. Anticipation rose as with one simple twist, the fan blades would be off and disassembly would be complete. But no sooner had I applied pressure to turn the screw, “CRACK!” The top of the screw shattered as if it were made of glass!

Steel has been known to become brittle over time when subjected to certain elements. Highway bridges need their bolts replaced for the same reason.

But now what? Setscrews were such a great innovation, as they allowed the easy “setting” and removal of all kinds of shaft-bound components. But with the ears of the screw shattered, the doorknob on the door of success just disappeared. Time had made this great innovation into an obstacle.

Jesus encountered this very situation with the Scribes and Pharisees in Galilee. The Scribes and Pharisees were “set screws,” part of the great tradition that guarded the Scriptures and made sure that teaching was accurate in the synagogues. But time had hardened them into obstacles, people who actually stood in the way of people coming to know the Lord. Jesus confronted their hardness by saying, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. . .” Time tends to harden many things into what they were not meant to be – hard and inflexible. As a family of faith, God calls us to make disciples of all nations and apply His remedy to the sickness in our culture. What that means for us is that we pursue God’s call with as much creativity as possible.

This Summer, we are marching through Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. This is a very important letter in which Paul reminds those in Ephesus and us that God has fully revealed Himself in Jesus Christ. God has fully revealed our purpose as His children as well – that we are made in God’s image and are called and chosen and special in His sight.

We live in a culture that has a nasty habit of tearing down God’s love for humanity. Paul wrote this letter to the Ephesians to be a medicine to confront the forces that seek to tear down and kill and to bring health to we human beings so that we are able to confidently stand in the purpose God has given us.

Our goal is to not to allow the great gifts God has given to us to become obstacles to anyone. As Jesus taught anyone who would listen, so we must pray for God’s guidance and wisdom as we pursue making disciples with all the creativity we can muster. The sick need the Savior. God is honoring us in this call for the healing of our community. As those who have attended Via de Christo know: Christ is counting on us, and we on Him!

Keep and Live the Faith! -Pr Dave Dahl