Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

The capitals on top of the pillars in the portico were in the shape of lilies, four cubits high. On the capitals of both pillars, above the bowl-shaped part next to the network, were the two hundred pomegranates in rows all around. He erected the pillars at the portico of the temple. The pillar to the south he named Jakin and the one to the north Boaz. The capitals on top were in the shape of lilies. And so the work on the pillars was completed.

• 1 Kings 7:19-22

“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?

• Matthew 6:28-30

“When Jesus said ‘Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow’, He was referring to the new life in us. If we make His words apply to the natural life only, we make Him appear foolish. If we are born of God and are obeying Him, the unconscious life is forming in us just where we are. God knows exactly the kind of garden to put His lilies in, and they grow and take form unconsciously. What is it that deforms natural beauty? Overmuch cultivation; and overmuch denominational teaching will deform beauty in the spiritual world …
“The new life must go on and take form unconsciously. God is looking after it, He knows exactly the kind of nourishment as well as the kind of disintegration that is necessary. Be careful that you do not bury the new life, or put it into circumstances where it cannot grow. A lily can only grow in the surroundings that suit it, and in the same way God engineers the circumstances that are best fitted for the development of the life of His Son in us.”

• Oswald Chambers, The Psychology of Redemption, devotion for 29 May, in Daily Thoughts for Disciples

The Scripture, which Rev. Chambers used, is Matthew 6:28, but he could have used Luke 12:27.  Yet, in the NIV, both of these references state “flowers.”  To illustrate what Jesus was saying, any wildflower would do.  But considering “lilies” the 1 Kings passage states that Solomon’s temple had some of the structure designed to look like lilies.  Lilies are mentioned in three of the Psalms, and Solomon uses lilies in descriptions within his love poem, Song of Songs.  While the experts can argue that lilies wasn’t the best translation in Matthew and Luke (issues between Hebrew and Greek, I suppose), since Jesus compares the lilies to Solomon’s apparel, it points in that general direction.

But considering our new nature when we accept Jesus, Rev. Chambers speaks of ruining the work of the Holy Spirit by working at it too much.  But let’s just look at our new nature first.

The expression that I heard often in my teens and twenties was “If it feels good, do it.”  This was used as an excuse for a lot of bad behavior in those years.  The phrase died out as the cases of HIV and AIDS increased and the source was discovered.  Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD) does not stop a lot of that type of sin, but it shifted the focus for a generation.

But with a new nature, we look at life through a different lens.  It does not mean that we do not sin, unfortunately, but it means that a voice inside us, the Holy Spirit’s voice, is telling us that there is a better way.  Do we always listen?  Unfortunately not, but our nature is to consider the situation, and as we listen to and obey that voice more and more, the temptation is less and less, not eliminated, but less.  We find ways to resist and turn from that sin (repent).

But Rev. Chambers takes it a step further.  I was discussing a few miscellaneous things with a friend a few months ago, and I suggested that something we had said might be a great idea for the church to do.  Maybe the Holy Spirit put that thought into my head.  Then the other person said that these younger pastors these days seem to be taught that everything needs to go through a church team, or committee, first.  They will discuss it, they will ponder for a while, and then they will either bury it in a committee or half-heartedly approve it months from now.  I admitted that I had a couple of ideas that seemed to disappear when they went before various church teams.  Even putting together my comedy routine for a dinner, on the 50^th anniversary of me becoming a Christian, was a hard fight, begging teams to approve it and support it.  I had about an hour of comedy and then my testimony explained my obsession with things that were funny.  Basically, I saw Christians and their Joy.  I had wanted that all my life until then, searching in comedy, but happiness and Joy are two different things.  After many struggles within myself over the course of about fourteen months, I found Joy in Jesus.  But the dinner was well-attended.

But so often, when the bureaucracy within denominations gets in the way of the Holy Spirit, the spirit is gone by the time the church gives its okay.  And some things are timely.  If you want to have a prayer meeting on the National Day of Prayer or the International Day of Prayer for Persecuted Christians, you might have to start working on that six-months or a year in advance.

The other direction might be spontaneous, but you may not have understood what the Holy Spirit was saying.  You might find yourself in the midst of a can of worms, but then again, God can use anything.  We are flawed people who when we accept Him become useful vessels.

And the church is like the lily that Rev. Chambers describes.  It grows best in the environment that suits it.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.