The Hub
There isn't any part of our life that we can afford to have disconnected from the hub.
Read Time: 2 minutes
This past weekend I attended an in-person gathering of people from all over, who came together for fellowship and Bible study. For me this was the first event of its kind post-pandemic. (Of course a case can be made that we aren’t yet truly “post”, but most everyone seems to be acting “post”.)
The speaker (thank you, brother) reminded us of something so well known to us it’s a cliché, but it’s deeply, profoundly important: I am not the hub. Nothing revolves around me. Nothing about my life is at the center-not my health, not my job, not my family, not my church. When we place anything at all in the center that isn’t God and His Son, we are way out of whack.
So obviously correct, yet we seem to need reminding. Often. At least I do.
Extending the metaphor, those other important things are the spokes in the wheel of my life. What happens if my work life or my home life or any other part isn’t firmly plugged into the hub? (The right hub, the real and true hub of all life.) What if my attitude and decisions about my health aren’t plugged into the hub? Or how I handle the resources I’ve been blessed with? Or my interactions with my neighbors? There isn’t any part of our life that we can afford to have disconnected from the hub. Every part needs, in fact, to be driven by the hub.
But we realize, don’t we, that every part isn’t.
The hub is rock solid and reliable.
Conversations like this can just send us spiraling down into guilt. Or make us mad because it feels like someone is laying guilt on us. Not the intent here! The point is that we have a tremendously loving, caring and forgiving God, who wants us connected to him. So yes, some self-evaluation is in order-which is in fact a key reason we come together to remember our Lord’s sacrifice. (1 Corinthians 11:23-28)
If we do examine ourselves honestly, and find that a few spokes need tightening…we should consider ourselves blessed almost beyond measure. Because a lot of the time we need more that just a bit of tightening. We may have a spoke that’s come completely loose. Or more than one. Have you ever felt as if the wheel of your life is more like a messy pile of disconnected parts? Even then, we are not abandoned or hopeless. As long as we don’t give up and walk away. Because, God revealed Himself to Moses,
That’s the hub, who He is. The hub is rock solid and reliable, ready and waiting, and (to our amazement perhaps) our spokes can connect to Him with a perfect fit.
With some help. Which is also right there for the asking. No, I’m not thinking it’s easy-not quite that big a fool. Just saying that when we get straight in our minds who the hub is, it becomes possible.
Love, Paul