Read 1 Corinthians 10:11-13
We had
the opportunity this summer to visit the old Ramsay castle in Scotland. It is
great. It has secret passages, stairs hidden in floors and even a secret
doorway in a bookcase. One thing I found particularly interesting was while we
were exploring a back staircase at the castle: there was a sign that said,
‘turn left for the Spa, turn right for the dungeon’. I would hate to make that
wrong turn.
Warning
us not to make wrong turns is one thing our pericope today is about. We would
hate to walk the staircase of our life hoping for the eternal spa and turn into
the eternal dungeon. Now, of course, God is not going to let us wander into an
eternal dungeon by accident: He does a lot to point us to the safety that comes
from Christ alone. He posts many signs like the dungeon/spa sign on the walls
of our lives. 1 Corinthians 10:11 tells us that one such sign pointing us away
from the dungeon, towards the eternal spa is the experience of those who have
gone before us.
Another
sign is the encouragement about how we can trust and follow God to the eternal
spa even as we go through very difficult passages. Paul draws our attention to
the sign of the fiery cloud leading the Hebrews out of Egypt, the parting of
the sea, the manna they ate and the water from the rock they drank in the
desert (1 Cor. 10:1-4). These are all signs pointing us to the spa, the grace
of God we can experience now and forever as we walk with Him through the
stairwell of our life.
God
knows that sometimes the staircases we navigate in our life can be dark and
scary and sometimes we need the encouragement of 1 Corinthians 10:12, to watch
our step so we do not fall. Sometimes there is barely any room to move;
sometimes these staircases can get pretty dark and sometimes some have wondered
if they can even still see the light of God at all through the troubles,
trials, and tribulations that can sometimes line the walls of our lives.
Jack
Layton, in his farewell letter to Canadians, wrote “My friends, love is better
than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let
us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world.” The Apostle
Paul offers us this same encouragement. And I promise that as difficult as the
staircase of our lives may be at times that there is no testing that has
overtaken us that God has not already escorted someone safely through before.
So as
dark as our lives may seem at times, we can ‘keep on keeping on’ because God is
faithful and He will see us through even the most difficult circumstances. As
we serve Him in the midst of our very real struggles I know that He will comfort
and sustain us and I know that as dark as our lives may get, he will post signs
pointing us away from the dungeon of our trials and towards the eternal spa
that is grace of God in our lives.
[1] Based on the
sermon by Captain Michael Ramsay, 1 Corinthians 10:11-13. Presented to
614 Regent Park Corps of The Salvation Army, 26 July 2015. On-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2015/07/1-corinthians-1011-13-sign-on-staircase.html
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