Volume 28, No. 27
July 27, 2003                        

Devil Sticks  

   These matches were not made in heaven.  In fact, they did incredible damage.

   In 1826, British chemist John Walker was trying to invent a new explosive when he stirred a bunch of chemicals with a wooden stick.   Sometime later, he noticed a dried, tear-shaped drop on the tip.  When he tried to get it off the stick by scraping it on the lab’s stone floor, the wood ignited.  That simple serendipity set afire a worldwide market for matches.

   Though Walker figured out the dried material on the stick was a combination of antimony sulfide, potassium chlorate, gum and starch, he didn’t patent it.  So  when London businessman Samuel Jones saw its potential, he started making matches immediately, calling them “Lucifers”.  The name means “light bearer” but is usually linked with Satan “who masquerades as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14).

   It was a fitting name because the ignitable sticks gave off such an offensive odour, the boxes they came in carried a printed warning.  Ironically, the matches were considered more hazardous than the cigarettes they helped popularize.

   To eliminate the smell, a French chemist introduced a combustion mixture based on phosphorous.  The new compound lengthened the match’s burning time, but the highly-poisonous phosphorous also touched off an epidemic of phossy jaw, a deadly disease that attacked the body’s bones, especially in the face.  

   Then in 1911, the Diamond Match Company modified the phosphorous and introduced the first nonpoisonous friction match.  The firm even gave up patent rights, allowing rivals to produce the safe alternative.  It also saved countless more lives by making the new matches harder to ignite, preventing thousands of devastating accidental fires.

   There’s a striking parallel here with what the Bible calls “zeal”, a strong, sometimes unstable trait that can be a blessing or a curse, depending how it’s used.  In most cases, zeal develops by serendipity as we embrace a set of beliefs or behaviours.  And enthusiasm about something as vital as our faith is a holy, wholesome thing.  It can ignite the light of love and spiritual illumination, kindle kindness, gentleness and generosity, and burn away the apathy of habit and loveless legalism.  “Never be lacking in zeal,” says the apostle Paul, “but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.” (Rom. 12:11)

   There’s even a place for zealous anger.  When Jesus overturns the tables of the Temple moneychangers, it fulfills a prophecy from Psalm 69:9:  “ Zeal for your house will consume me.”

   But whenever zeal is used to promote and protect the selfish interests of even the most saintly, its flame can turn poisonous and destructive, igniting the fires of fanaticism and the odious odour of prejudice and intolerance.  Sometimes the light of religious fervor flares up so brightly it obscures the very truth itself, or incinerates the sincerity, integrity and humility that must be part of any search for God.  It can burn down the very bridges faith is meant to build.
 
  With a heavy heart, Paul laments the uninformed enthusiasm of his Jewish countrymen who rejected Jesus.  “For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge,” he says (Rom. 10:2).  In another church, he describes false teachers.  “Those people are zealous to win you over,” he warns, “so you will be zealous for them... It’s fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good.” (Galatians 4:18)

   Zeal must be combined with truth and a humbleness that lets us learn from others and admit mistakes.  Properly channeled, spiritual intensity is selfless and lifesaving, unconcerned with holding back rivals and holding down rules, just to protect the status quo.  The powerful Flame ignited by true zeal will transform your life.  When presented with a choice, you can unleash a Lucifer, or strike a Match with the character of Christ.

By Rick Gamble, published in Cross Current, the weekly newsletter of the Followers of Christ congregation in Brantford, Ontario, Canada.  Reprint at will in not-for-profit publications.  To subscribe, contact sgamble@bfree.on.ca