In the rain, but not of the rain…
Sep 6th, 2007 | By art rogers | Category: General Christian, Missional
It was raining yesterday and I was thinking about how we like to stay out of the rain. Well, most of us like to stay out of the rain.
Anyway, the phrase, “In the rain, but not of the rain,” crossed my mind and I settled on it for a while.
Obviously, the comparison is to Scripture as we are called to be in the world, but not of the world. I have heard for most of my life that the outworking of this Scripture is that a Christian is supposed to live in the world – that is, the earth – but is to look and act differently than everyone else. As a result, we are often told that a strong Christian will separate himself or herself from anything that might give the impression that they enjoy the same things as the lost around them. “Don’t love the world or anything in the world,” after all.
When looking out at the rain, though, it struck me that a parallel illustration would be to substitute the word rain here. To be in the rain, but not of the rain, would mean these things:
- Standing in the rain is often uncomfortable, and our first desire is to get out of it, seeking our comfort.
- You can not stand amongst raindrops without getting wet. This does not mean you become rain. It will have some effect on you, but will not change who you are.
- You also affect the rain around you. It runs into you and conforms to your presence. The effect is not the same for both you and the rain, but it does affect both.
It’s not perfect, but it helped me to visualize my desire to run from the uncomfortable situations to the safe harbor of the church where people are like me, it is warm and it is comfortable.
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Good thoughts, Art. I appreciate you sharing them. The grammarian in me, however, wants you to correct the misuse of effect for affect in your first and third use of it in point 3. The second use is correct–effect is the result of the action of some force upon another, i.e., a result and therefore a noun. Affect is a verb that speaks of causing an action or producing an effect. Sorry about the grammar lesson.
“I” before “e” except after “c”….
Quite profound, actually. Thanks for the post.
Gary,
No apologies necessary. Always open for grammatical improvement. Honestly, I never quite “got” affect/effect and never spent the time to look it up.
Thanks for the encouragement.
Rick – Thanks to you as well.
Marty… Oh, well.
When you are in a drought like we are in the Carolinas, you welcome the rain no matter how uncomfortable it may be.
What about when we are in a spiritual drought? God send me your rain!
I am glad it is Art who makes those mistakes rather than me.
cb