Quit Touching the Stove
I assume most of us are familiar with the following longstanding example of learning a lesson, right? We are warned as children that, although burners on a stovetop may appear safe, there’s a chance they are still holding on to an invisible heat. Sometimes just the warning itself isn’t sufficient and we feel tempted to touch the hot stove anyway. It’s the hope of every caring parent that we find the mere threat of danger to be enough to stay away. If we insist on pushing the limits, the parental theory is that we will remember the pain that is associated with our defiant action and that we will learn from the experience moving forward.
In regard to an actual stove, most of us only need the strong warning or first throbbing encounter to know we don’t want to touch it again. But what about the symbolic stoves; the things that are dangerous and painful in our lives, and yet, we keep coming back for more? Are we just gluttons for various types of punishment? Do we all somehow suffer from short-term memory loss when it comes to the things that injure us the most? Are we simply incapable of resisting the urge to place our hands in the midst of the heat? I have three thoughts around why we have so much difficulty moving on from these fiery situations.
The Stove Doesn’t Look That Hot
Oh, the fine art of deception. Sure the burner was just a blazing inferno three seconds ago, but it’s off now so where’s the issue, right? We tell ourselves lies like “there’s no visible threat,” “it’s probably cooled off enough,” "or “it can’t really hurt that bad.” Sometimes we know a person, place or thing isn’t good for us but we downplay how harmful the influence is on our lives. We know the presence of these things will only lead to negative outcomes, but in our heads, we justify away the depth of the devastation because we want to believe it’s not as bad as it really is. If we can minimize the severity, we can numb the inflicted pain enough to keep our hand-pressed on the burner. The problem with this is that, while we might tell ourselves that we’re fine in our unhealthy situation and that the satisfaction is worth the risk, it doesn’t change the truth that the longer we remain in the flames the more intense our damage will become.
We Think We Know More Than God Does About the Stove
Just like any competent parent, our Heavenly Father firmly warns us that there’s a scorching situation in our presence and we should remove ourselves from the source of inevitable agony. He has given us The Bible as a handbook for the overarching principles of how to live this life and The Holy Spirit dwells within us to sound the smoke alarm when specific danger is near. Our human nature, however, has equipped us with a very different type of compass - it’s called pride and it often overrides the aforementioned tools we’ve been so graciously blessed with. We think we’ve got it all figured out, we want to believe we are the ones with the 30,000-foot aerial view. In actuality, we are standing in front of a single tree with no concept of the surrounding forest. Following God’s prompting may seem like a huge sacrifice now, but we are promised so much more joy in the end. Choose wisely, friends. Momentary pleasure is never worth compromising the integrity of your soul.
The Burner Feels Better Than the Pain We’re Avoiding
Sometimes we seek pleasure for pleasure’s sake, but I believe we are more often seeking it to hide the pain we are trying to dodge. Sure, the burner is hot, but facing the alternative seems far worse. We know we shouldn’t drink too much, but we’d rather be drunk than depressed. Our bank account tells us it would be foolish to buy the car that’s $20K outside of our price range, but driving it dulls the angst of not feeling good enough amongst our social circles. The Holy Spirit grieves us to end a relationship that is incredibly toxic, but we’d rather fake the feelings of happiness than face the feelings of rejection. So many scenarios exist where we turn to a method of self-medicating with all sorts of unhealthy habits in order to avoid the real root of our breaking heart. Sadly, this is a vicious downward spiral that never ends well if we don’t allow ourselves to come to the realization that we have to stop chasing false bandaids and start dealing with the underlying hemorrhage.
Friends, we all do this. Each of us falls into these three categories at one time or another; we’ve all touched the stove (and probably more than once). The good news is that there’s hope in divine forgiveness. Jesus is the King of our hearts and He also happens to be the King of our second chances. He grieves our regrets but He also heals our hurts. His love and mercy have the power to restore even the most desperate situations and breathe new life into our collapsed souls.
So take a minute to evaluate how your life is really going. Mute the excuses, throw away the justifications, dissect the distractions. It is then that you can identify the hot burners for what they really are, commit to removing your hand from the flames, and claim a fresh start in Christ.
