G is for GAS

Our Chemistry laboratories in school were always a concoction of smells that could be detected all along the corridor leading towards the science block. Sometimes it was aromatic, sometimes pungent, occasionally pleasant, often detestable but never avoidable. The labs were situated right beside the cloakrooms or 'bays' as we called them and as you moved through the years, so your occupied bay moved closer to the Chemistry room. On entering the lab, there were strict safety rules that had to be obeyed and although much of our time in the senior classes was spent writing while seated on uncomfortable high stools, we all knew when the rules kicked in during practical work. In the first few years we all learned how to use the Bunsen burner, how to make a smoky flame and how to detect its hottest part. We evaporated water from salt dissolved in it, filtered in a conical flask, made Copper sulphate, tested acids and alkalis and burnt different powders and metals in crucibles. I reckon there is hardly a past pupil who didn't do all of those things in their first couple of years being a chemist.

Yet what we really looked forward to were those afternoons when the teacher let us loose in making gas. Out came the old conical flask again, the huge water bath, the ground glass jars with the petroleum jelly smeared over the cover to make a tight seal, the bee hive shelf and all the rubber and glass tubing for connecting. Then came the moment when the ingredients were mixed together and before long, bubbles of gas were starting to appear in the water. We would spring into action, forcing the water out of the jars and quickly sliding the covers across the base, hoping not to trap any water. By the time the bubbles had stopped appearing and the reactants lay exhausted in the conical flask, we might have collected about three or four jars of gas.

Sometimes the process required heat but usually the reaction generated warmth. There were times when we had to view the whole process form the safety of the outside of the fume cupboard, when the fumes were toxic or at least unpleasant and occasionally the gas wasn't collected by passing it through water at all because it would have dissolved in the liquid before it reached the jars. Then came the time to test the properties to make sure we had collected the right gas. And of course the one we all loved was the lighted splint. So how's this for a memory?

Oxygen relit a glowing splint, Hydrogen made it pop, Carbon dioxide put it out and Nitrogen had no effect at all. Of course the two properties that we didn't need to test were the colour and the smell of these gases because all of them were colourless and odourless. In fact, faced with a jar of each, the only reliable method was to plunge the old lit splint into the gas and that's when you discovered what lay inside the four identical looking jars.

It's true isn't it, that the only reliable method of knowing what a person is really like is to check inside. That's what God does all the time. He doesn't look to our bank balance, the size of our Bible, our shape, the words we say in public, the smile on our faces. No, appearance doesn't matter one jot to Him and I know He's right, for so many people who confess to being followers of Him all often do the same things, sing the same hymns, pray the same prayers and know the same Bible verses, but when the lighted splint penetrates beyond the well crafted exterior, it goes out for there is no real spiritual life inside. Didn't God remind Samuel that 'Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.'

It's not good to depend on visible properties alone to detect gases. Carbon monoxide is colourless and odourless but can be lethal. Equally it's unwise to put all our faith in what we see in others but rather to put our faith in what we see and know in Jesus. But it's lethal if we think our outward appearance can fool the One who created us. Is your spiritual fire burning inside or did it extinguish some time ago? Oh that we would all explode into action for Him. I think our lives would be anything but colourless!