There Is A Whole Shelf Of Things For People

There are eleven of them.

The blue one is for your sister. The small one at the end was for a woman at church who had a hard winter about three years ago. The one in the middle you made for your daughter in law and it has been there since before the baby, and the baby is two.

All finished. Every one of them done, wrapped in some cases, with the person in mind from the first evening.

And not one of them has left this house.

I want to ask you the question you have not quite asked yourself, and it is not why. You know why, roughly. It is when.

When were you going to give them?

Because there was always going to be a moment. A right occasion, a natural opening, a time when it would not be strange to hand somebody a thing out of nowhere. And the moment has not come for eleven things across about nine years.

Which suggests the moment is not a thing that arrives.

And here is the second half, which is the harder one. Once it is given, it is finished. It is out there, in somebody's house, being what it is, and whatever they think of it is settled and cannot be improved.

While it is on the shelf it is still potential. It could still be the right gift, given at the right time, received well.

The shelf is where the possibility lives. Handing it over is where the possibility ends.

Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel

Jesus says something about a lamp that is almost too obvious to be a teaching, and the obviousness is the point.

Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. (Matthew 5:15, King James Version)

Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel.

He is not telling anybody off. He is describing a thing that nobody does, because it would be absurd. You do not go to the trouble of lighting something and then cover it up.

And the reason it is absurd is in the last clause. It giveth light unto all that are in the house. A lit candle has a job, and the job requires it to be where people are.

You have made eleven things that are lit and covered, and Matthew 5:15 calls that arrangement absurd rather than sinful. The Holy Spirit is the one who takes a homely little picture about a lamp and lays it down on a shelf in a front room.

And notice how gentle it is. There is no accusation anywhere in that verse. He is describing ordinary sense, and inviting anybody listening to notice that they already agree with it.

You are being shown something you already know, and it is already settled in the written word that the covering was never the plan for a lit thing. His Spirit is the one who says it giveth light unto all that are in the house over a shelf that nobody outside this house has seen.

The moment is not coming

Now let me deal with the waiting, because that is where nine years went.

The waiting has been for an occasion. And occasions do exist. Birthdays, Christmases, the visit when somebody is having a hard week. But nine years of those have gone past, and eleven things have stayed on a shelf through all of them, which means the occasion was never the actual obstacle.

The obstacle is the handing over, and no occasion makes that easier. A birthday makes it more public, which is worse.

You have permission to go on an ordinary day, and Matthew 5:15 puts a lit thing where people are without waiting for a suitable evening. The Spirit of God is the one who moves one object off a shelf that has held eleven for nine years.

So there is no version of this where the moment arrives and it becomes comfortable. There is only a version where it is done while it is still uncomfortable, on an ordinary Tuesday, with no occasion attached at all.

And this: how any of them turned out is not a measure of you, and whether the person is pleased is not a measure of the thing. You made eleven objects for eleven people and every one of them was made with somebody in mind, and that is already true whether or not they ever know.

You are not waiting for anything real, and heaven has never once made an occasion the condition on a gift. Matthew 5:15 puts the lit thing where people are without waiting for a suitable evening, and the Spirit of God is the one who ends a wait that was never going to end on its own.

And do not give them all. Do not clear the shelf this week in one grand act, because that is a different thing and it would be about you rather than about them.

You have permission to give one, and this is yours: the candle was put where people are and nothing was said about how many. It is written in Matthew 5:15 that it giveth light unto all that are in the house, and the Holy Spirit is the one who moves one object off a shelf.

One off the shelf this week

So here is the ask.

This week, take one thing off that shelf and give it to the person it was made for.

Not the best one and not the worst one. Whichever one is easiest to get to the person, because logistics are the only thing that should decide it.

No occasion. Ordinary day. Hand it over, or leave it with them, or post it.

You have permission to go without waiting for a suitable evening, and Matthew 5:15 puts a lit thing where people are as plain sense. The Holy Spirit is the one who ends a wait that was never going to end on its own.

And say almost nothing. I made this for you a while ago is a complete sentence. Do not say how long ago, do not explain why it has been on a shelf, and do not apologize for the delay, because the delay is your business and not theirs.

Then go home and do not think about it, which you will fail at, and that is fine.

And make something new this week, badly, in twenty minutes, so the shelf has something on it that is not waiting for a moment.

You are covered while one thing leaves this house unexplained, and Matthew 5:15 is the ground under that. The written word puts a lit thing where people are as a matter of plain sense, and the Spirit of God is present in a front room where somebody is reaching up to a shelf.