Volcanoes are amazing, and it’s not why we think.
Yes, we see the plumes of smoke, and on the news reports, we read of homes consumed by oozing rivers of lava. Volcanoes are dangerous, and to live next to one? Not us, not ever, and not on your life.
Yet, to live near a volcano is to gain a toehold on the choice qualities of life. Volcanic ash makes the soil nearby some of the most productive in the world. And beauty? There is no greater beauty that we can find. Imagine Hawaii or Fiji or the great volcanic mountains of the Northwest along the coast of the United States and Canada.
Yet, while Fiji might be perfectly safe, Hawaii has the world’s most active volcano, one that regularly eats homes built in its path. Google Mount St. Helens, and half of it was blown away in the latter part of the 20th century. It’s a volcano, always ready to erupt once again.
Who can forget the tales of Pompeii? The final moments of that ancient city have become an indelible moment in the history of our world. Thousands of years have passed, and we still identify with the terror and the pain of being buried alive in burning ash and molten stone.
Even all that’s not what makes volcanoes so amazing. When an eruption happens, we get to experience something that occurs at no other time on the face of our planet. The earth slings out a little bit of its core. We get to see what our world is really like on the inside.
What comes out of a volcano is what our magnificent world is really made of. It’s the truth that all the forests and reefs and snow-covered slopes can’t disguise. We see the reality show of life, one that reveals the inner workings of God’s creation in a way that he can show us like no one else can.
It’s terrifying, incredible, and beautiful all at the same time. In a word, it’s amazing.
What does the world see when our volcano erupts? Yes, we all have one. Some of us have several. A few of us are encircled by them. Our emotions, our families, everything we touch as we go through life. All are potential volcanoes, ready to show the world just who we are inside.
We are even born from a volcano. Read in Genesis 3:16:
“To the woman he said, ‘I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.’ “
If childbirth is not a volcano, then for millennia, women have cried out in vain, for no other reason than to entertain the world. Let’s ask, what does the world see in that eruption? What is the reality we have brought forth? How do we train up our children? They reflect who we are. Just ask any teacher who sits through a parent-teacher conference. The child is a mirror of the parent, in more ways than many parents want to own.
We are also born from God’s volcano. Read in Genesis 2:7:
“Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.”
We reflect God as surely as our children reflect us. His nature is our nature. What we feel, he feels. What we desire, he desires. However, just as a child can choose to alienate herself from her parents, so we can alienate ourselves from God. We can chase our own desires, even while at our core, we remain a singular creation that reflects the source of humanity’s creation.
That’s why God continually calls us back to him. Read in 1 John 1:9:
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Take a rock. Any rock. Paint it, plate it with gold, throw it in a cesspool. It becomes covered with what touches it. We see it as disgusting, and we toss it aside. Yet, scour it with the sands of the desert, scorch it with the heat of the sun, or shower it beneath pounding waterfalls, and we will get the original rock back. Remove the gunk, and it’s no longer junk.
It becomes something we can treasure once more.
At those times in life when volcanic eruptions show the world just who we are inside, let’s endeavor to make sure we show Jesus. When we’re made of him, that’s what will come out every time.
When we fill up with Jesus and the world squeezes us, the Son of God will burst forth every time.
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Code: FGO.J.14.14.vp