Rubbing It In

Being the only daughter of an only child, I have been privileged to inherit many of my family’s heirlooms. Part of this collection is a pair of brass candlesticks that belonged to my grandmother. For years I faithfully used a brass cleaner and cloth in an effort to polish the candlesticks. It appeared however that regardless of how much I applied the cleaner that the lustre of the candlesticks was diminishing. I attributed it to their age and was content to live with the dull version of the candlesticks that adorned my grandmother’s duchess. One day however, I discovered that if I used less cleaner, and simply started to rub, that progress began. As the cloth became darker the candlestick became brighter. It was not the application of cleaner that restored the candlestick, but rubbing in what had already been applied.

The life lesson for me was that adding more does not always yield the anticipated result. We are not restored by gaining another application from someone’s teaching, or by simply increasing our knowledge. We are changed by “rubbing in” what we have received until it becomes part of who we are. It is not the truth we know, but the truth we live, that brings transformation. When Jesus said we would know the truth and the truth would set us free (John 8:32), He did not use the word for mental understanding. He used the word ginosko. Vines Expository Dictionary reveals that this word “frequently indicates a relation between the person "knowing" and the object known”. It speaks of encounter and an experience of truth that goes beyond mere head knowledge. This is the rubbing in of what we hear until it changes who we are. 

Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies (1 Corinthians 8:1). When we begin to absorb and meditate on the truth of the Word, we encounter Him. A dab here and a dab there may give the illusion of becoming clean and doing what is right, but it yields limited results. Jesus said that we are clean because of the words He has spoken to us (John 15:3). This implies hearing and not just reading. 

In the Old Covenant, Ezekiel was told to eat the scroll he was given.

1 Moreover He said to me, "Son of man, eat what you find; eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel." 

2 So I opened my mouth, and He caused me to eat that scroll. 

3  And He said to me, "Son of man, feed your belly, and fill your stomach with this scroll that I give you." So I ate, and it was in my mouth like honey in sweetness. 

4 Then He said to me: "Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak with My words to them.

10 Moreover He said to me: "Son of man, receive into your heart all My words that I speak to you, and hear with your ears.   

Ezekiel 3:1–4, 10

We are often quick to speak to others, but has the Word first spoken to us? It is in eating and receiving that we are fashioned as one who can speak His words to others. We aren’t called to simply give a message; we carry a message. When the truth has touched and changed us we are able to reveal that truth to others. How often have we lost our lustre because we have simply taken truth and made it a message for others without first listening carefully to it for ourselves and rubbing it in our own life? Slapping on another layer of cleaner is easy. Rubbing and polishing until the cleaner has removed the grime and restored the shine is hard. We are called to be light. However, the candlestick of our own life needs repeated attention. Another layer of truth is not enough - not if we seek to be transformed and carry the brilliance of His words to others.