STOOLS

I have often related how the Lord has been at work forming me into the likeness of His dear Son (Rom. 8:29; 1 Jn. 3:2). I wish it were not so, but I am still a lot like my father Adam. Because Adam died spiritually the very day he partook of the forbidden fruit (Gen. 2:17; Rom. 7:15-25), and because God is Spirit, man has to be spiritually born again in order to have fellowship with Him (Jn. 4:24; 3:3-8). Adam was created in God's image and likeness, but because he sinned and ceased to be like God, every person born of his seed has borne the likeness of man (compare Gen. 1:26 w/ 5:3). The only person born spiritually alive since Adam was Jesus, because he was not born of the seed of man; He was born of the seed of woman (Gen. 3:15). Jesus truly was in the image and likeness of the Father (Jn. 1:1; 10:30; 14:9; Phil. 2:6; Col. 1:15; Heb. 1:3).

Recently, I have made mention of the "swimming pool from hell," and how God has used it to reveal how my "Adamic" nature dominates over my God-like nature. I can honestly say that if I didn't know that the Lord saved me, I would take one look at the fruit I bear and declare myself lost. And it is not just the pool that has brought out the worst in me; being a husband, a father, a neighbor, and just about everything else tends to reveal how far from being Christ-like I am. I do so relate to the Apostle Paul who described himself as a "wretched man" (Rom. 7:24 - notice it is in the present tense). Paul wrote in his letter to the Philippians that he had to forget his past failures and keep his eye on his goal to be like Christ (Phil. 3:13-14).

Sunday, I told one of the elders of my church that I would not fill in as teacher in the adult Sunday School class. When I had been asked, I had immediately said yes, because I love teaching the Word of God. I would have been a lot better off if I had said I would pray about it. That would have given me time to remember my health prohibits me from standing for more than a minute or so. I would need to be able to sit while teaching. Our auditorium floor slants so we needed to use another classroom. Have you ever tried to get senior adults to move from "their seat" let alone move to another classroom? Then there is Sister Marie who, although nearly crippled to the point of not being able to walk, struggles to get to her place next to the entrance. Marie would not be able to attend if we were to move to another classroom, and God help the man who would dare recommend she use our wheelchair! It was final; they would need to recruit someone else. I had tried to get someone else, but like most churches, we have dozens of men who should be teaching, but they prefer someone else do it. There's my anger rising up again, sorry.

Well, as fate would have it, during the sermon which had little or nothing to do with my situation, I came under conviction. Why couldn't I use a stool on the one place where the floor is level? There is a place nearer to the front of the auditorium specifically designed for wheelchairs. If I could sit on a stool, I could endure the pain for the hour I would be teaching (God kept reminding me of Marie). The stool is a compromise between standing and sitting, true, but it is also evidence that He is still at work on me. Amen!