The Tip of a Boulder

Several years ago, I was mowing the grass at our meeting house and noticed a rock sticking up where I intended to mow. The mower blade nicked it when I went over it. Our members had been taking turns mowing, and I wondered why no one had bothered to move the rock. I asked the maintenance guy if it was okay if I dug the rock out and filled the hole with dirt so we wouldn’t keep hitting it. He just smiled and said, “Have at it.” I learned that the “rock” was the tip of a boulder.

Here in Michigan, we have rocks and boulders carried in by glaciers in the past. When I went to work with the shovel, I learned this was more of a job than I thought. By the time I got to the bottom of the boulder, I had dug an enormous hole and needed to use my truck to pull it out of the hole.

This story reminds me of people. I recently talked with a neighbor about a neighborhood issue and noticed a tear rolling down his cheek and a clenched fist at his side. Our conversation stopped, and I asked him if he was okay. I learned that his wife had just left him for another man, and the neighborhood issue was just the tip of the boulder he was dealing with.

In 1 Corinthians 5, we read about a congregation where one member was cohabiting with his father’s wife (not his mother). The congregation not only tolerated the situation but was “puffed up,” meaning they were laughing it off. That sin was a rock everyone could see, and Paul said that even the pagans could see it. The rest of the letter in 1 Corinthians shows a boulder of problems. In chapter 11, verses 18-30, we read of division, selfishness, drunkenness, and a bunch of people who were ”weak and sickly.”

In America today, we have violent protests, corruption in our government, racism, profanity in our movies and music, and no fixed standard of morality. Those are just the tip of a boulder that has become very large. Even many churches have become entertainment venues instead of promoters of God’s will. This is the tip of a boulder that is a lack of belief in God and in the Bible as a guiding force for life. You can’t read Galatians 3:28 or study John 4:5-43 and not see that God calls us to be one in Him.

John the Baptist said, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Get ready for the coming of the Lord” (John 1:23). This ministry is saying very much the same thing. We urge the world to understand that we are on a road to disaster. The rocks of division, immorality, and war are just the tip of a boulder that must be removed.

–John N. Clayton © 2024