This morning I was inspired. It just occurred to me out of the blue that love is what life is all about. Flashing through my mind was "love going around" and it's distribution outward to others as if by spokes in a wheel! I then wrote my inspired thoughts, but due to time, I didn't make what I'd written public.
Then the preacher during morning service likened a bicycle's wobbling wheels to an unsteady Christian life! I thought."That's what I wrote about! Had he read my commentary?" I remembered that I had yet to make it public. It appears that the preacher and I were thinking the same thoughts at the same time! Since I wrote much more than he said, here is my commentary:
Love is the focal point or an "in the wheel of life". The hub is God.
1 John 4:16 "And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him."I've written on the four types of "love' just recently All About Love. God, as "the hub of "love" is that agape-type of love of which I wrote. That's unbounded love and love without condition. It's the type of love God has for us and the type he expects from us. Not only for him, but others! God is the "hub"around which love abounds.
Around God's love are spokes. This love is an addendum to God's love. The spokes of that love radiate outward from the focal point, or locus, of the love. It's a point at the center of the hub whcih appears to be unoccupied. Jesus describes the relationship between the hub and the spokes:
Matthew 22:37 "Jesus said..., 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself''.""Neighbour" is plural in context. In the Greek it is "those around you"! Those around us are the spokes. Thus, we almost have a "wheel" with God as the hub and others as the spokes. Since all the spokes are to love God and each other, this relationship is unity, but to keep the spokes in relation to God and in harmony, something else is required! Visualize a wheel with a hub and spokes only. As it rolls the spokes are tied together at the hub (God), but they wobble about their own secondary axes. They are in harmony with God, but not each other!
Those inward end of the spokes always move in the direction God is going, but the outward ends are wobbling about! The hub is a ring (of love if you will think that way) which bonds Christians to God. That ring is "completion". It's the whole. It's God, his Son and his Spirit. The hub end of the spokes can only move with God because God is the right path. We endeavor to be righteous with God, but because of rocky roads, the outward ends of the spokes, wobble horribly. It's the influence of the world on the instability of loose spokes!
That inner ring of the hub is God's love. It's what binds us to him. Grace is the "shock absorber" on each wheel to keep it running smoothly. "The axle" is made of grace. It moves along in the world and takes the impact for the spokes. It's grace that takes the bumps in the road and smooths them out because God is at the center absorbing the shocks for us! If we depend on him to Comfort us, then those shocks are barely felt by the spokes.
God is the hub and it's of three parts. It has an inner core having existence and purpose, but it can't be seen. It's the surroundings of the axle (grace). It's what bonds everything together. This is God the Father. The material part of the hub, the one to which the spokes are clustered, is Jesus Christ. He is the visible part of the hub and appears to be made of the same material as the spokes are made. Of course the spokes are made in the image of the ring or outer hub. What can be seen is material just like Jesus, but within our spokes, unseen, is unison with God. There is a communion between the spokes and the hub. They are one. If red-stained liquid is pumped from the hub, it would dissipate out of the end of the spokes. Not only are the spokes and hub ring material, but they are intrinsically the same!
The axle has a route. It moves through life controlled by the hub, but influenced by the surface on which the wheel rolls. It goes where the hub takes it, but it's influenced by the world. The axle is our road through life. If the hub isn't a good fit, the path is treacherous. Faith is allowing the hub to fit the axle perfectly such that the spokes don't disengage from the hub. It's when the wheel stays intact without regard to how rough the road becomes!
The Holy Spirit is the grease that allows the hub to move freely about the axis. Because it's there, the spokes have a more gentle ride. The world throws grit and dirt at the hub, but the grease, being inside, the hub, allows the wheel to ride smoothly!
So far, we have a nice wheel, but the carriage (our world) wobbles. It takes something more to smooth the ride. There must be an outward ring to keep the spokes in harmony and unity. That's the ring which meets the road. It ties the spokes and spaces them evenly and at the same distance from the hub. Each spoke may have differences, but those differences are equalized by that circular ring. The significance of a "circle" is sharing, common interests, unity in movement and continuity. That outer ring is the "true church". Is the agape love each neighbor has for the other!
Philippians 2:2 (ESV) "Complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind."Unity is the outer ring, or rim, of the wheel which holds the spokes together. Better yet, righteous spokes create a beautiful continuous ring. It can't be seen, but it's there. It's unison in God! That outer invisible ring is everywhere parallel to the hub which is symbolic of God!
Satan's job is to deceive others in undermining the wheel. The "Wheel" is true Christians in harmony with God. It's the true church!
Satan doesn't destroy anything himself! Why should he? He has others to do it for him!
The last resort is to make the spokes wobble within the rim. Satan breaks maybe one spoke through temptation. It may not get completely broken, but warped by inclimate weather. Once one spoke starts to wobble in the rim, it may soon detach at the if it doesn't persevere the trip. It may take a while, but the spoke may eventually detach from the hub completely! From the time the "Wheel" was made at Antioch, Satan has been loosening spokes. He doesn't even have to worry about the spoke until it's actually part of the wheel. It's then that the spoke is truly in danger, but that ring made of agape, is what holds the wheel together!
If one spoke deviates in any manner, it causes the whole to be out of balance. We've all felt the results of a wheel out of balance on our car! It's the same with our spiritual wheel. The whole church is out of balance when one member is, and as time goes by each spoke becomes untrue and causes more imbalance. Satan's method is to create a faulty wheel which is of no use for it's intended purpose. What is the purpose of the wheel? It's to please God in it's smoothness and right moving. A faulty wheel isn't pleasing to God. What Satan wants is a wobbly wheel if not broken. He wants that axle flatly on the world, and not held up by the hub!
Satan throws things at the spokes, trying to break, hinder or distort one or more! In fact, Satan hurls great stones at all the spokes all the time! Sometimes a spoke is harmed. It's then that the hub holds it until it's repaired. That grace which is the axle, flows through the hub and up the spoke and signals: "something is wrong". I'm out of unison with the hub!' The spoke uses that grace to readjust itself among the others and off the carriage moves again!
Sometimes it's necessary to rebalance the wheel. There is a manual for that. It's scripture and is all about the hub. It tells the spokes how to realign with the hub so things are made right again. When this happens the wheel becomes in balance again! Like a wheel, there is never perfect balance, but the technician tries to come close. We are our own technicians, but we have a technical guide to continuity. It's the Bible! Every carriage should carry a Bible and the "Wheel's" job is to make sure the spokes know of it. How else would they know unless the "church" tells them?
The stones thrown at the axle by Satan's representatives wage war on the wheel. The road is muddied and beneath those murky waters are evil beings unseen who cause the damage. Just as God is love and there is no other way to heaven than by Jesus, Satan is hate and hate is how he destroys! Even one spoke smitten by hate can destroy the whole wheel! It spreads to others because the rim (the outer ring) becomes flawed. It's when the virus of anti-love "unfriendship" stalks the aisle in church where love should abound!
Those stones thrown at other spokes loosen the rim. The spokes begin to wobble, then fallout. Sometimes the spokes are gone and the wheel is no longer a wheel. The attachment to the hub is strained and before long the wheel is no longer a wheel. Satan smiles as his commands are heeded and it's Christians, the spokes, who do his bidding!
Rather than throwing stones at the rim end of the spokes, Satan can throw grime where the spokes join the hub. It's heresy which destroys those connections and it's pride which is the grit that wears it down! You see, each spoke thinks it's the tie which bonds, and removes itself because of pride. The wheel needs this spoke, but one spoke will destroy the wheel because it's thinks that it's the most important spoke! Too many spokes think that way. The spokes damage the hub by losing the rim in the murk!
There is one thing wrong with the wheel. It lacks the integrity of the builder by which it was built! It's love which makes the wheel go round, and it's love that keeps the wheel intact. Love smooths the rim and lubes the axle. Without love, the wheel is just a creaky rusty facade trying to hold the spokes together on it's own. Love makes the world go 'round, but hate destroys the spokes and eventually the wheel!
Are there three or four loose spokes in your church? If so, it's only a matter of time before it wobbles and may disintegrate! Are you a loose spoke? Tighten that spoke through adjustment! Use scripture to see how the wheel should roll! Then, apply some bond where the loose spoke attaches. Let the grease at the hub smooth the ride! Satan hates a smooth ride. Throw him off the carriage!
Remember, "friendship" is the demonstration of love. Being a "non-friend" is the admission of having hate! Hate is the grime which destroys the wheel. Disunity is the imbalance caused by the hate of even one in the wheel of unity!
Unfriending is the act of showing another the degree of hate one has! Not befriending is the way to loosen spokes and destroying the whole wheel. One out of balance spoke can do that all by itself while even blaming good spokes for the miscarriage! Oh, the humans who are in denial! We say that we love, but the show of love is hidden behind the shield of hard hearts!
Forgiveness is the erasure of animosity and the restoration of love. To forgive, but not to love, is the cornerstone of disobedience.!
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