Friday, September 23, 2016
“Let these
false prophets tell their dreams, but let my true messengers faithfully
proclaim my every word. There is a
difference between straw and grain!
Does not my word burn like fire?” says the Lord. “Is it not like a mighty hammer that smashes
a rock to pieces? Jeremiah 23:28-29(NLT)
The simple difference between straw
and grain is life. Straw is an empty
pod, useful in some ways to provide comfort for bedding, or kindling for a fire,
but it is entirely useless to feed the body.
Grain will not leave you hungry like straw. Straw used for bedding or fire may provide
some of the external trappings of life, a soft place to lay down, or
the warmth of a fire, but grain is able to feed the body and sustain life.
Jeremiah’s analogy is not lost on the
state of religion in our world today.
God says His Word is like a mighty hammer that smashes a rock to
pieces. His Word seems
harsh, but it is also the difference between straw and grain! Today it is a pitiful truth that our culture
is at odds with the idea that the Word of God is even believable, much less the
standard by which human beings ought to live life.
We prefer the comfort of our straw-men
to grain.
A straw man is
a common form of argument and is an informal fallacy based
on giving the impression of refuting an opponent's argument, while actually
refuting an argument that was not advanced by that opponent.
The so-called typical
"attacking a straw man" argument creates the illusion of having
completely refuted or defeated an opponent's proposition by covertly replacing
it with a different proposition (i.e. "stand up a straw man") and
then refuting that false argument ("knock down a straw man") instead
of the original proposition.[ii]
It’s a little like fooling Gracie
into taking her ear drops like a man…er, dog.
She hates the ear drops, but the Vet says it’s good for her. Instead of chasing her through the house and
pouncing on her like a squirming eel, I hold up a doggie treat which she would
kill-for. As she’s crunching the treat,
she doesn’t notice the drops a-fallin’ on her ears!
Parents re-direct their kids (instead
of spanking); the result is the same behavior-wise, but like Gracie, the child
doesn’t have a clue their behavior was wrong, only that they got something else
that they want.
It is that way with misrepresenting
God’s demanding Word. In Jeremiah’s day
false prophets were dangling their doggie treats of politically-palatable straw
men. God told the genuine prophet,
Jeremiah to say to the people: I’m
holding up God’s true Word like grain for life, and you’re settling for straw; are
you nuts?
Straw-man thinking hasn’t changed
much in 2600 years. I have an idea the
presidential debate this coming Monday evening will have its fair share.
For You Today
Choices today (as always): have your attention taken off the grain by
the straw our culture will dangle…or grow strong on the real stuff of God’s
Word.
Go to VIDEO
NOTES
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