The Lesson of the Chair

A word picture came to my mind that I believe most of us can relate to. We have been considering our need to be "joined" to Christ unto becoming one spirit with Him. We have received revelation through the words of our Lord, the writings of His apostles, the help of the Holy Spirit and the gifts working through faithful brothers. Yet, if we fail to meditate upon the things that we read, hear, and see in others, we will still not receive the IN-sight from the Lord. Paul exhorted Timothy “meditate upon these things and the Lord will give you insight.” Meditating upon my own need to be fully bonded to the Lord Jesus through love, I experienced a moment of insight I want to share with you.

Our home for many years has been a collection of furniture others were upgrading from (getting rid of). We do have some new items, but for the most part beds, tables, and especially chairs have normally been well used before we purchased them. Many of you have sat in some of our chairs and probably even experienced the same thing that I received a little insight from just the other day.

Most of the chairs that we own are made of individual pieces that have been arranged and bonded together by glue. I do not believe we have ever had this type of chair that did not eventually begin to weaken and become loose. Just the other day my son Benjamin sat on a particular chair that had grown weaker and looser than the others. As he began to place his weight on it, it suddenly gave way and completely split apart in several places. Fortunately he caught himself before the chair fully split apart and was ruined. The Lord has provided a faithful older brother who has come to live near us and this chair now has an appointment with him for a re-bonding session.

I had been meditating upon the bond of love and becoming one with Christ, and this incident became a part of the insight I want to share with you. The New Covenant will never be fulfilled in us by any other means than a full comprehension of the love of God in Christ Jesus. We will never love others beyond our apprehension of how He has loved us. The apprehension of this love will produce this powerful bond of love towards both our Father in Heaven and our brethren upon the earth. This love is the key, for love is the bond of perfection – but how you might be wondering does this relate to a loose chair?

Our relationship with the Father must be one of an ever increasing love – unto a perfect love that forms a solid bond with Christ. To become one spirit with Him, we must be fully joined to Him in a mature, abiding love. The enemy knows this and therefore designs his strategies to undermine and weaken this bond of love between us and our Heavenly Father. These strategies will take many different forms, but they all serve to achieve one purpose, one goal, to loosen the bond of love with our Father.

How can we recognize these strategies when we encounter them? This is where the lesson of the chair came into play. The enemy’s strategy is a subtle and gradual undermining and loosening of the bond of love; otherwise, we would likely discover his sinister work and easily overcome him. Sadly however, many believers are like me and my chairs. I must admit that I always notice when I sit in a chair and feel it give just a little; I always can sense when it has weakened or loosened a bit. I usually even wiggle a little just to make sure it’s safe. In my case, time after time, despite my discovery, I did nothing about it; after all, it still held me up just fine. I’ll fix it later became my motto.

The strategy of the enemy can be recognized in this very same way. We know that we are never tempted beyond what we are able, but along with the temptation we are shown a way of escape so that we can bear up under it. The lesson I am learning is that the way of escape is the Holy Spirit’s gentle nudge where we feel the bond of love give ever so slightly. A thought enters our mind and something gives a little. We may sense the Father’s caution, or just a little hesitation at a choice we are about to make. Sadly, too often our response is like mine with my chairs. We sense the need to attend to the matter, but put it off and continue on our way - the chair can wait.

The first hint of an unloving attitude towards a brother or sister, maybe only the slightest irritation at first, but love has weakened – we felt it. We come to a time of devotion and prayer and we sense we have drifted ever so slightly; we may even wonder why God feels distant – but we press through – it’s only a feeling. We gather with our brothers and sisters and begin to sing, and we sense a lack; others are moved while we are numb, we wonder for a moment – but this will pass – it’s normal. The phone rings and it’s a brother or sister wanting to talk; we sigh, and hope it will be short – love has loosened its bond – ever so slightly. We have some free time, extra time to spend with our Father like we have done many times before, but this time we are not drawn. We briefly wonder why, but our mind turns away rather than deal with it right then.

“Love is as strong as death”, Solomon wrote, yet our Lord warned that due to the increase of lawlessness the love of the many will wax cold – actually more literally it will simply cool. We are told that the days are evil. The Greek word here denotes the effect of the days upon us. Beware the evil effect of our days – the enemy is seeking to loosen our bond of love in order to prevent our being fully joined to Christ and becoming one spirit with Him. Many are falling away; their bond of love loosened ever so subtly by the evil effect of the cares of this life, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desire for other things. The life line of our relationship is being affected by evil – faith that works through love is cooling, the bond of love is weakening – and we have grown used to the chair being loose. Once we have grown used to the chair being loose, we grow more accustomed and take even less notice. This is the strategy of the enemy; cooling our love, weakening our bond, and causing us to slowly drift our way into distraction.

In the light of this danger, the prayer of Paul for the Philippians can be seen for its spiritual power and insight. “And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ.” Are the things we are doing strengthening or weakening the bond of love? They may be lawful, the chair will still hold, but are they strengthening our bond or undermining it? The days we live in have an ill (evil) effect upon us, especially upon the love that is the bond of perfection. God is faithful, and will not let the enemy deceive us without the Holy Spirit providing the way of escape for every temptation. He will make sure we will feel the chair give, it is always noticeable – but we too often ignore it to our own calamity.