“God began to gather kindling around my life.”

That’s how Matt Chandler describes his justification experience.  It was a process, not a dramatic response to some earth-shaking event.  Chandler certainly had a fortunate set of circumstances in his life, a group of men who saw some value in him and tried to help him find Jesus.

It is interesting that he described the process as starting a fire.  I have heard from others who experienced something like that, a patient pressure to make some move toward God that is steady and slow, full of stops and starts and sidetracks.  That is not the way it is for others.  Some are justified as they find themselves at “the end of their rope” (to use that well-worn cliché).  They have chased life with a pill or a bottle and found themselves face-down in vomit or alone in a frightening jail cell.  They have been stunned by a traumatic situation that has caught their attention and they think back over what led them to that spot and they know they need to cry out to The Lord for help.  They literally don’t know where to go next.  Chandler did not experience that.  It was a slow fire, started “with small pieces of grass and wood and once that’s caught, you put on bigger sticks, and then you put on bigger sticks and then you put on even bigger sticks” [The Explicit Gospel, 68].  Then God really lit Chandler up.

When you think about the point of Chandler’s section of Chapter 4 entitled “Clay and Ice, Cuts and Scars” he is saying that he found Jesus and of course that happened to me.  My way of “finding Jesus” was different from his but what happened next was also different.  Before God moved in his life, he writes eventually “I needed to know how everything fit; I needed to know why God would say such and such.  But when the Holy Spirit opened up my heart to Christ my Savior and God my Father and reconciled me to God, I didn’t need those questions answered” [69].  Chandler felt God’s grace and mercy and that was enough.  After experiencing God’s grace and mercy, he became what he called an “aggressive agnostic.”  He did not know what to do with his “gift.”  That period lasted for one month.  When that time was over, he came to grips with what his conversion meant and began he began to share the gospel.

The problem he says is “I was not theologically built out.”  He had a thirst for God and His Word but he did not know the Bible very well.  I remember my conversion experience [on an Emmaus Walk].  I came back to “the world” with a desire to devour the New Testament, which I did.  I was searching for answers.  I had traveled the path of a workaholic, neglecting my spouse and my son.  All that mattered to me was the “atta-boys” I was getting from work and believe me; in those days I was getting quite a few confirming responses.  That was what being a “man” was all about…getting confirmed at work, getting pay raises with increased responsibility and climbing that ladder of success.  Putting God first…what was that all about?  Dedicating my life to my spouse…that did seem a bit important, but I thought she was doing ok.  My son was doing well in school and did not demand much of my attention when I was home [I did my share of traveling and working late so I was not home that much].  My spouse was taking care of him for me.  Ok, you can see where this is going.  I needed a major course correction and that is what happened. 

I wound up in the same place as Chandler when I realized I too was not “built out.”  I had a desire to not only live the life of a Christian man but I needed to know why I needed to do to live that life.  All these years of living and how did I miss this?  Chandler says this is a dangerous time.  I understand that danger.  Justification is just the first step of conversion.  Justification should be followed by a growing desire for sanctification.  When one makes a salvation commitment, that is not enough because God wants more.  I will write that again: GOD WANTS MORE.  For many who find Jesus, they are not ready to give God more. 

I had a very close friend who began to see friends “stack kindling” around him and he began to share with me his interest in God.  He began to come to church. He married his “live-in girlfriend” and he even started coming to my Sunday school class.  But he was in that place that Chandler calls “dangerous” because the Word will cause our hunger to increase or we will harden to God’s grace.

I remember having a conversation with this friend and he said, “I want to make a commitment to church but I like drinking a lot.  I like the way it makes me feel.  I don’t want to give that up.  It means too much to me.”  He had hardened himself to God.  Many many Christians are not into this “growth thing.”  They go through the motions of going to church and maybe join a Sunday school class.  The only time they experience the Word of God is when the Pastor reads it during church service.  When they are called to sacrifice time to serve others, they will [if it fits their busy schedule].  Making serious commitments to the work of our Lord is out of the question [what would people in my social circle think?].

Chandler calls the vast majority of people in the church today “hobby Christians.”  They really have no intention of seeking more of God and yet that is exactly what God wants.  Through the process of seeking Him, we learn to serve others, we learn to become more Christ-like and we can lead others to a relationship with The Father.  Our kingdom is not of this world.

Make no mistake, God wants to have a relationship with us.  He wants us to want Him, love Him and certainly need His wise counsel.  Chandler writes that the Word of God cuts into the soul of every man and woman; for some it “cuts to the quick, breaking open like freshly tilled soil” while “others it bruises, leaving marks scarred over”. 

There is no in between.  God wants more and He will not stop asking.  What is our response?  Sadly too many just rest on their salvation and they become stagnant over the length of their lives.  Others repudiate Him and fall into their old ways [maybe only “putting on” the veneer of Christianity, maybe not].  Some turn their backs to God altogether.

Yes, some believe God’s promise of life and they take up His challenge. 

When God comes calling, they are not afraid to say yes!