Foolishness

 

Thursday, November 11, 2021

Timothy, guard what God has entrusted to you. Avoid godless, foolish discussions with those who oppose you with their so-called knowledge.  Some people have wandered from the faith by following such foolishness.  1 Timothy 6:20-21

It’s an amazement that tops most of the surprises I’ve had in my life – those times when I’ve been unable to resist responding to the bait.  It happens this way: 

·       Somebody poses an absurd thought in a group, or social media forum

·       Russell responds

And that’s all it takes for the foolishness to begin. 

The sense in avoiding nonsense is just about self-evident.  Paul told Timothy to avoid it; run like the wind from such nonsense.  Paul probably got a first-hand picture of the height of foolish debaters in a Sanhedrin meeting as one Pharisee tried to convince a Sadducee that there is life after death.  Or when Paul’s teacher, Gamaliel (a wise man by reputation) tried to break-up the argument of two students fighting over how many angels could actually fit on the head of a pin…proof of the proverb:

Fools have no interest in understanding; they only want to air their own opinions.  Proverbs 18:2

The crux of the issue, however, isn’t THAT we should run, but HOW to keep the motor ready TO RUN at the first sign of someone just wanting to drag you into the bottomless pit of argument.  I have my share of blind-side issues.  I tend to focus deeply on what I’m doing.  When preaching, I focus so much on the moment and delivering God’s Word that I often miss what’s going on around me.  I’ve been told a toddler could bite me on the ankles when I’m in sermon-mode, and I’d never even notice the blood or pain.

So what do you do when your nonsense-detector isn’t exactly up to speed?  How do you avoid being dragged into the foolishness of empty chatter?  There is only one way I’ve found, and that is what I’m doing right now…meditating on what God’s Word says about it, bathing my spirit in the things of God, so that anything other than Godliness sets up an odor like a landfill.

For You Today

Making progress in your journey through this life as a child of God will never be served by trying to teach those who enjoy foolishness.  You’d have more success trying to teach a rock how to dance.

After enough foolish arguments, avoiding that trap becomes a lifestyle!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!  

[1] Title and Other Images:  Pixabay.com  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©    

When Children Disagree

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Thursday, December 15, 2016

For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus.  And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes.  There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female.  For you are all one in Christ Jesus.  And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham.  You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you.  Galatians 3:26-29^(NLT)

It always started when we were going someplace in the car.  One of my children would tweak the other child’s sense of personal space.  It might be as little as a toe on the other side of the line I set when I told them the last time, this is your side; that is your brother’s side.  A toe on the wrong side meant a shouting/shoving match was sure to follow.  Sometimes it was just a look that hinted a toe was coming over the line.

A conversation that took place once, overheard from the driver’s seat:

Her:  Stop it!     Him:  You stop it!

Her:  You’re on MY side!     Him:  Am not!!!

Her:  This is the line…Dad said!     

Him:  No it isn’t…it starts there!

Her:  You don’t know anything!    

Him:  You’re ugly!

Her:  You stink!     

Him:  Well you….

ENOUGH!  Enough! (said the Mom).  You two argue about everything!  You even argue about what you’re arguing about!!!   

              (10 second pause)

A voice, softly from the back seat…  

   Her:  No we don’t.

Siblings – and other assorted human children – have been arguing since Cain and Able.  And what chance did those brothers have when they heard the story from God how Adam had blamed his wife for that business about getting involved with the apple.

Whether we are born with that seed of rebellion, or learn it from our parents and their siblings, children have been picking fights with other children since the dawn of time. 

We’ve just come through one of the ugliest fights in recent memory that didn’t involve movements of tanks and battleships – the presidential campaign.  While the candidates themselves now have little reason to bludgeon each other daily, the supporters of the candidates haven’t let-up on the ugly…from either side. 

It will be a long four years no matter for whom your vote was cast.  One side wants sanctuary cities to keep the Feds from deporting illegals; the other side wants a wall built along Mexico’s border to keep out the undesireables.  Each side claims to be Abel (the good son), accusing the other of being Cain, (the evil son) sneaking up behind the good guys with rocks in their hands.

And, despite the world leaders in politics, religion and business, like Dads, drawing imaginary lines in the back seat of a Ford station wagon to keep the Cains and Abels separated, still the children disagree.  But, unlike the Dads drawing lines, and the Moms yelling Enough!, nothing presidents, kings or preachers can do will ever really keep the peace. 

And it is an amazing thing that God still keeps his promise to never destroy the earth with another flood.

For You Today

Peace, like electing an unconventional president in a system rife with corruption, is a movement; it’s never a possibility to legislate peace.  It must come from the personal choice of each individual who elects peace to reign in his or her own heart. 

For that there is not a preacher, president or king who can give you what you desire.  For that you need a Prince of Peace!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road…have a blessed day!

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NOTES

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[i] Title image: By Marines from Arlington, VA, United States (Let's Get Ready to Rumble!!!) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

The Argument

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Wednesday, June 24, 2015

A debate broke out between John’s disciples and a certain Jew over ceremonial cleansing.  So John’s disciples came to him and said, “Rabbi, the man you met on the other side of the Jordan River, the one you identified as the Messiah, is also baptizing people.  And everybody is going to him instead of coming to us.” John replied, “No one can receive anything unless God gives it from heaven.  John 3:25-27^(NLT)

Reading arguments is a Facebook™ staple!  The warnings from years ago have proven true; the anonymity of social media – at least the lack of face-to-face (and isn’t THAT ironic on Facebook) – has provided a medium which dehumanizes humans, and allows much more boldness (read that:  crude, cruel and no-consequences interaction). Opinions – both considered, as well as flagrantly hip-fired – volley back and forth in the posts and comments.  

And great is the carnage of friendships and character!

And there is no such thing as a “winner” or even an end to these debates arguments; the comments roll-on into the internet stratosphere, multiplying until Jesus returns.

Irony persists – certainly on this page; a blog, this Rocky Road Devotional is little more than an extended comment for the social media pot.  (Thought I’d go ahead and admit that before anyone has a chance to comment).

The debate between John’s disciples and others was Facebook for the first century; ego and vitriol are not new.

The Baptist’s ministry was winding-down and Jesus was the new face to follow in the crowd.  His Facebook account had more hits than Madonna, and Twitter was blowing up with Jesus sightings.  Pinterest couldn’t get enough of the new preacher.

John’s disciples couldn’t handle it.

But John could; he simply let his followers know that the salvation they were proclaiming was walking in front of them now.  The Kingdom of God was here.  The advertising season was over, the debate closed, and their campaign victorious!  Now it was time to step aside and let Jesus be seen.

And that is our set of marching orders…let Jesus be seen.

The biggest set of irony here is the debate over which is greatest, the sign pointing to the Kingdom, or the Kingdom itself.  From our perspective twenty centuries later, it seems ludicrous that the Baptist’s disciples would confuse that point.  But we’re not much different, arguing over contemporary music or traditional, King James or Revised Standard, or (my favorite) Wesley over Calvin.

We are good at straining-out gnats and swallowing camels!

For You Today

What useless arguments have you allowed yourself to be drawn into lately?  Did anyone see Jesus in any of it?

If the answer is “yes” then God be praised.

If the answer is (as most often it is) “no” – what did you learn about your response the next time the bait of an argumentative post looks just too delicious to pass up?

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[1] Title Image:  By Klaus with K (Own work), via Wikimedia Commons

A Deep Division of Opinion

Friday, September 5, 2014

Then they took the man who had been blind to the Pharisees, because it was on the Sabbath that Jesus had made the mud and healed him.  The Pharisees asked the man all about it.  So he told them, “He put the mud over my eyes, and when I washed it away, I could see!”  Some of the Pharisees said, “This man Jesus is not from God, for he is working on the Sabbath.”  Others said, “But how could an ordinary sinner do such miraculous signs?”  So there was a deep division of opinion among them.     John 9:13-16 (NLT)

A man, who in his entire life had never seen so much as his own thumbs, was given 20/20 sight by Jesus, and the first words out of the mouth of a religious bystander was criticism for Jesus.  There was no celebration that a blind man had been healed; there was only indignation that a miracle was performed on a holy day. 

It’s hard to miss the irony there.

Some of the Pharisees wanted to defend Jesus’ motives.  At least they recognized a miracle as being from God.  And so the skeptics and seers were off to the debate; divided again; a deep division between sides….again!

Divided Again

Among the things that never change are misunderstanding and division; these are as constant in human relationships as breathing in and out.

Calvinists and Arminians, Republicans and Democrats, Progressives and Conservatives, Georgia Bulldog and Crimson Tide fans – shall there ever be consensus?

Well, of course not!  We’re human beings; we divide ourselves into camps, dig our heels in the sand and debate how many angels can sit on the head of a pin, defending our “side” with the last drop of self-righteous blood in our bodies.

I’ve recently had to confess to the congregations I serve that I join the fight at times.  It’s rather obscene, really. 

I’m talking about Facebook™.  There are these Pharisee – er…Clergy Facebook pages.  

Someone always posts something politically left or right, or religiously progressive or conservative; the next thing you know there are snarky comments slinging-in from both sides.  

It can get pretty foul.

Nothing is ever settled; no one is ever happy; Christ is rarely glorified; and seldom is the blind man ever welcomed.  But we feel better for having vented our spleen in full view of the electronic world.  

We even do it on the Sabbath!

For You, Today…

If you’re a “Facebook-er” before you boot up that app, take a moment to ask God for the mind of Christ today.

Whatever conversation you join, make sure you’re holding the blind man’s hand.  Jesus is holding the Pharisee’s hand and wants to bring everybody back to the Father.

P.S.

It’s ok to heal on the Sabbath…Jesus said so!