Our Breaker and Redeemer

The weather was very nice the other day, so I decided to join my parents in an attempt to tame some of the more unruly bushes that line the front of the house. My mom had an electric hedge-trimmer that she was using on some of the smaller-branched plants in order to reshape the wild edges, and my dad was using an electric chainsaw to fight back the larger branches. Both of these tools, being electric, required extension cords to connect them to an outlet. As I contributed by collecting all of the pieces that they cut, I noticed with growing anxiety my mom getting dangerously close to cutting her own cord with each wave of her hedge-trimmer. I pointed out to her this potential hazard and decided to swap places with her for a bit. Because as someone who’s a bit of a control freak, I have an easier time trusting in my own capacities than I do with her. My dad, who was wielding the chainsaw, I have a high level of trust in with using these kinds of tools. He’s known to make blunders here and there, but I wasn’t worried about him. He’s pretty cognizant of the danger involved with various jobs and tools.

After some time, I gave the hedge-trimmer back to my mom and headed in for a quick drink and a bite to eat. Shortly after walking inside, I hear a POP! and then the front door opening. My dad walks in with a big goofy smile on his face. In his left hand, he was holding half of the cord to his chainsaw. In his right hand… well, he done goofed and cut his own cord. Doing this had caused the breaker to flip, cutting off power to his tools. Had this failsafe not triggered, there’s a good possibility that some serious harm could have befallen him!

This incident brought to mind our relationship as humans with God and with Jesus. God is described in Hebrews 12:29 as being a consuming fire. It is His nature to bring righteous justice to any sin in His presence. In our studies, we learn that we as humans are separated from God as a result of our sins. We are but gasoline-soaked paper before the burning flame that is our lord. But as Christians, we have become fire-proofed in the cleansing waters of baptism (Romans 6), putting on Christ to allow His blood to cover us and to wash us of our sins (Hebrews 9). Without Jesus acting as that breaker did to stop the flow of electricity from doing any substantial damage as a result of our sins, we would be met with the overwhelming wrath of God’s justice and become consumed (Ephesians 1:7). We ought to be continuously thankful, as infinite mercy and grace compliment perfectly our Lord’s righteous justice.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)

Alex