[420 words]
An electrical conduit is a pathway that delivers electricity safely to an outlet. When electrical wires are not properly passed through a conduit, they carry the potential of being extremely dangerous. The wires need to be protected from fraying and grounding and likewise, we need to be protected from the potential threat of the electricity grounding through us. The conduit accomplishes both tasks.
Electricity is an extremely powerful form of energy that we depend upon in our modern lives and though it is dangerous, it is also very useful to us when properly employed. It powers our homes, our businesses, and most of our forms of entertainment but if not handled properly, electricity is as dangerous as it is useful. This is the reason there is a building code for the handling of electricity in constructing homes and businesses. This code demands that proper electrical conduit be used because of the power and potential danger in electricity.
The Word of God is the same; it is very powerful (Heb. 4:12-13) and has the potential to be extremely dangerous if not used and handled properly (2 Tim. 2:15) but it is also exceedingly profitable if wielded correctly (2 Tim. 3:16-17). It has the potential to condemn the soul if misused and abused. “He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him—the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day” (John 12:48). It is just like dynamite, which can be used to accurately demolish buildings and leave the surroundings completely untouched, or it can destroy everything in its path. “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek” (Rom. 1:16). The word translated power in this verse is the Greek word—dynamis, and it is where we get our English word dynamite.
A Godly conduit is a pathway that delivers God’s power safely to the world. “For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe” (1 Cor. 1:21). This conduit protects the message from change (Gal. 1:6-9) and us from being condemned by its power (2 Jn. 9-11) and God’s Word is the building code (John 17:17). Are you a Godly conduit for God’s power (2 Cor. 4:7)?
Corey Johnson
Clarendon church of Christ
Clarendon, TX