The Man With the Iron Spade

"Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him...

He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created."

~ James 1:12, 18 (NIV)

It's a simple but powerful analogy that I learnt today as I sat on the pew. The man and the iron spade. It's based on a real-life sighting of a man who collects empty used drink cans and recycle them. Before bringing them to the recycling centre, the man would line each one of these cans in a row and using the iron spade, striking it down to the ground to flatten each one. Within 3 blows each can is fully flattened. If the can itself has life, what could it have been thinking/feeling? It must have been a very painful experience to be flattened. but that would be the negative part of the story. However, if the can keeps in mind the eventual purpose why it is flattened, to be recycled, it might appreciate the joy of the pain, the eventual higher purpose of the pain.

Much is the same with us as Christians. The life of the can is in the hands of the man with the iron spade. The life of the Christian is in the hand of the one who calls him to purpose. God ensures that His purpose for which he has called the Christian would certainly come to fruition.