S04E060, Beard Brushes and Spiritual Growth, Andy B 2 Minute Video

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Beards need grooming. They need care and attention, or they can look pretty scruffy rather rapidly. That may be the look you want, but in our house that wouldn’t fly! So, since I can’t shave at this time due to a medication I’m on, I’ve now bought myself a beard brush.

I didn’t know such a thing existed, and yet I now use it fairly frequently to keep my growing beard in order and making myself look a little more presentable.

In life we can often spend time tidying and grooming ourselves to look presentable in all sorts of ways. This can be a good thing – like my beard! Or it can be a way of hiding things, or covering them over. And in our journeys as spiritual people we need regular grooming too. We can also be easily prone to trying to cover things up that we’d rather other people not see in our spiritual journeys too!

And yet, we need not fear when Jesus comes, in the form of fellowship or family or church, to help us be reconcile to God, and to get on with each other a little better.

My beard brush literally forces my beard hair to fall in line, one with the next. Sometimes there are small hairs on my beard brush that stick out a tiny bit, and these can scratch my face if I press too hard.

Let’s not fear that spiritual beard brush that is spending time with other Christians. Because while we may not always enjoy it, it isn’t there for us to enjoy! It, is however, a God ordained method for us to become more like Jesus.

When we rub up against each other sometimes it can feel like a painful chafing, rather than anything positive: it isn’t a pleasant experience. But, even that, is useful to us because it highlights things in our own lives that are sticking out, that perhaps should not. Other times spending time with Christians can feel more like honey soothing a sore throat: we all like those moments, but of course!

Either way, we need that spiritual beard brush. So what are you waiting for?

Just a thought...

Andy B

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Transcript

0:00
Beard Brushes and Spiritual Growth. Not necessarily two things you may have been thinking about 30 seconds ago. However, in my hand is my beard brush. My beard brush is what I use for brushing my beard. Now that's not much of a surprise! But first thing in the morning it gets a bit messy. So what the beard brush does is it literally makes the hairs go side by side. So as I'm brushing my hair, my beard, it makes it look much tidier. If I don't do that my wife gives me a funny look and I go and get me a beard brush and tidy my face a little bit.

0:33
Since I can't shave, and I'm growing a beard at the moment, I thought I'd go as long as I can go. I'm now down to two knuckle lengths of beard under the chin, which is kind of cool. We'll see where that one goes.

0:43
But I was thinking about spiritual growth, our journeys with Jesus Christ, our journeys in our church lives with fellowship, however, we may do church or Christianity at this time. Because what the beard brush does is forces my hair or my face to look tidy. It literally puts them by each other. So it might be the same if you're using a comb, or a brush, on your hair on top of your head. It's the same with a beard brush.

1:06
However, this is made of boar hair, apparently. And there are some little bits of hair on here that are ever slightly longer and it can scratch the face. And it can be quite uncomfortable. As my beard gets longer, it's less noticeable, but it's definitely there. When I start brushing my face, I can feel those little bits of hair sticking out, 'cos they're quite stiff.

1:24
And sometimes we can try and brush so much we cover things over. You might think of the image of sweeping things under a rug. But we might brush things with a comb and maybe try to tidy things away or hide things. But the reassuring things about our journeys with Jesus Christ is He comes along with a beard brush and He helps us, through edification, through being a church, fellowship, family, whatever that may look like for you, He helps us to get back into line with God. Not back into line like we're in trouble, but reconciling ourselves back to God. And sometimes it can be quite uncomfortable as that brush is going over our face, spiritually speaking. We can feel it digging in and forcing those hairs to comply.

2:08
So don't be afraid of reconciliation with God. Don't be afraid of edification with God, building one another up within fellowship, church, whatever that looks like for you. And don't be afraid of a Spiritual beard brush that comes along and tidies things up.

2:24
Just a thought.