#014 Pitch Drop Experiment (2 Cor 5:17)
Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5 that ‘If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.’ Christians are different. Different from non-Christians, different from what we used to be…
And, of course, if we are different, we should be able to TELL the difference, right? We see an expectation in the New Testament that those who become Christians will begin to look like Christians. A process the Bible calls sanctification.
Now, a lack of change can absolutely be cause for concern. Eventually, we want to see some change in our lives. The longer we don’t change, the more concerned we ought to be.
However… We also need to understand that not everyone changes at the same rate. Sanctification does not keep track of time! I want to offer a little encouragement for those who really do believe the gospel and genuinely trust in Jesus, yet seem very slow to change.
In 1927 professor Thomas Parnell at the University of Queensland set up a science experiment called the pitch drop experiment. Pitch is a bit like tar, it’s black and sticky. Pitch is also very brittle. It can shatter if you hit hard enough. Professor Parnell wanted to discover if pitch was a solid or a liquid at room temperature.
He melted the pitch into a funnel with a closed end, then after letting it cool - which took three years - he cut the end of the funnel open to see if the pitch would eventually drip, thus proving it was a liquid.
After eight years it dripped. Still going, this experiment holds the world record for the longest running laboratory experiment. Since the funnel was opened in 1930 it has only dripped nine times. Last time in 2014.
But now we know that pitch is a liquid - not a solid - at room temperature.
My point is this, some things take a very long time to prove what they already ARE!
Pitch was a liquid before anyone knew it was liquid.
And it’s the same with Christians. Not all of us, but some of us - and I’m speaking very much of myself here - take a stupidly long time to change, to grow, to transform, bear fruit, to give evidence of what we already are!
Christian, if you can truly say along with the hymnwriter ‘My life is hid with Christ on high’ it doesn’t matter all that much how slow or quick your sanctification is.
As the Apostle Paul said ‘I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.’
And, of course, if we are different, we should be able to TELL the difference, right? We see an expectation in the New Testament that those who become Christians will begin to look like Christians. A process the Bible calls sanctification.
Now, a lack of change can absolutely be cause for concern. Eventually, we want to see some change in our lives. The longer we don’t change, the more concerned we ought to be.
However… We also need to understand that not everyone changes at the same rate. Sanctification does not keep track of time! I want to offer a little encouragement for those who really do believe the gospel and genuinely trust in Jesus, yet seem very slow to change.
In 1927 professor Thomas Parnell at the University of Queensland set up a science experiment called the pitch drop experiment. Pitch is a bit like tar, it’s black and sticky. Pitch is also very brittle. It can shatter if you hit hard enough. Professor Parnell wanted to discover if pitch was a solid or a liquid at room temperature.
He melted the pitch into a funnel with a closed end, then after letting it cool - which took three years - he cut the end of the funnel open to see if the pitch would eventually drip, thus proving it was a liquid.
After eight years it dripped. Still going, this experiment holds the world record for the longest running laboratory experiment. Since the funnel was opened in 1930 it has only dripped nine times. Last time in 2014.
But now we know that pitch is a liquid - not a solid - at room temperature.
My point is this, some things take a very long time to prove what they already ARE!
Pitch was a liquid before anyone knew it was liquid.
And it’s the same with Christians. Not all of us, but some of us - and I’m speaking very much of myself here - take a stupidly long time to change, to grow, to transform, bear fruit, to give evidence of what we already are!
Christian, if you can truly say along with the hymnwriter ‘My life is hid with Christ on high’ it doesn’t matter all that much how slow or quick your sanctification is.
As the Apostle Paul said ‘I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.’
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