Are you a gifted individual? Have you made a record at anytime and have you been placed in the Guinness Book of World Records? I was recently watching a news broadcast show, but with the big names, in this case it was Katie Couric’s CBS Evening News. Every once in a while one of the broadcasters on her show will cover interesting stories that really do not benefit you in life. This time, it was the the story of the largest ball of twine. There are a couple of lessons I believe I can extract from this.
First, the man that originally came up with the idea has sinced passed away, but his hometown is proud of him so they sell shirts. After hearing of this large ball of twine a group of people came up with an even larger ball of twine. At first, he had the record of the “largest ball of twine”, then after the group made an even bigger ball of twine the statement changed to “largest ball of twine by one man”. Why could they not have been this exact the first time? I believe this is such a great example of how the world thinks. Of course, there was an accomplishment, but he was proud and had the largest ball of twine. Then others beat him and they changed the wording to still keep the man’s pride. If people in the world were humble enough, they would have stated “largest ball of twine by one man”. This is the danger of exalting ourselves, the glory does not last forever. The spiritual consequences of exalting ourselves is that we will be humbled and that is fact (Matt. 23:12).
Secondly, another man is creating another thing of twine and he is doing it alone. He has already beaten both other records but it cannot be considered a ball of twine because it is more of an oval shape than spherical, or ball, shape. Amazingly his record will probably read “largest oval-shaped twine” or however they want to word it. So technically, he will not have beaten the other man’s record. Who cares? It is all the same in my eyes. In Eccl. 2:10,11, we see that King Solomon did not hold back from anything, even his labor but he saw it all as vanity. In v. 18,19 of the same chapter, Solomon built himself a great work. However, the person that came after would either ruin it all and not have a care in the world or they would be wise with it. Oftentimes, people do things their own way, so if an individual is wealthy because of an inheritance and is doing no work to keep the family business alive, obviously he is a foolish one. What will happen to the original big ball of twine that the man made? One of the balls of twine was already shedding. I also wonder if that man were still alive today if he would have hated his work and considered it vanity just as Solomon? I do. I would hate it if some people got together and broke a record that I acheived with my hard work.
Thirdly, the man who is currently working on the oval-shaped twine, which has outweighed the original ball of twine, works on his big spool of twine 4 hours every day. He looks as if he is retired. I’m just wondering if that time could be better spent. I have often heard people say to me as I try to study the bible with them that they just do not have enough time for God. They are in school, then after school the excuse will be a job and moving, then the excuse will be family, then when they retire they will come up with some other excuse for not worshipping God. I have no clue what that excuse would be, but they will figure it out for themselves. Luke 14:15-24 outlines this concept pretty clearly. After a master invites people to partake of his feast, they all give an excuse and then he instead invites the poor and makes a scary statement in the end: “I tell you, not one of those men who were invited will get a taste of my banquet” (v. 24). I can just imagine if I was trying to have a bible study with one of those men that they would give the excuse of “Sorry, I have to work four hours on my ball of twine, I don’t have time”. Sounds pretty stupid, huh? Working for something that will not even benefit society in the slightest bit but to just show off. I remember talking to another girl who did not want to have a bible study because she did not have time. She claimed to be a Christian, but when I asked her “If you don’t give time to God now, what will you tell Him when you meet Him? Do you think saying ‘I did not have time’ will hold up?” She thought about that for a few seconds and said “I don’t want to talk about religion anymore.” It scared her. She did not want to think of hell or herself going there because she was “a happy person”. I’m a happy person also, but the idea of hell in eternity is what caused me to fall to God. That fear is there for a reason, so I will turn to God. What will you do?
This is not to say that hobbies are sinful, but it just illustrates some good concepts I wanted to discuss.
P.S. If the man spent 20 years of his life for 4 hours/day every day, he will have wasted 3.3 years of his life to that. I spent about 10 minutes of wasting my time to figure out how much time is wasted making balls of twine.
I don’t understand why it is so difficult to deal with addictions. I believe everyone has their addictions. Addictions can either be classified as good or bad. For example, some good addictions might be exercising, studying the bible, bungee jumping off of bridges, drinking coke, etc… I do not see anything inherently wrong with those addictions other than some may be more dangerous than others. As Christians, we all should be addicted to studying the bible. In fact, it is commanded that we need to be prepared to give a defense to the hope that is in us when the time arises (I Pet. 3:15). The only way to be prepared by constant study of God’s word. One of the famous “I am” statements given by Jesus was “I am the bread of life” (John 6:35). A friend once told me that we would never skip a regular meal because we need to feed ourselves physically. Likewise, we should study the word of God to sustain our spiritual hunger and thirst. Some people will go to church once or twice a week and maybe have a bible study throughout the week, but that is NOT enough. If you believe that it is enough, then you are starving yourself spiritually. You would never eat 2-3 times per week.
However, the other thing that I really wanted to dive into is bad addictions. It is commanded of us that we need to repent, or turn away, from sins (Acts 2:38, Luke 13:3,5; 24:47). In fact, that is why we baptize, to put to death the old sinful man and rise again a new creature. Therefore, we take part in Christ’s death and baptism (Rom. 6:1-8). However, sometimes those who profess to be Christians do not change. For example, some will continually watch pornography stipulating that it is not sinful, going out once a week to the bars to drink with their friends, sex (pertains to anything of a sexual nature) outside of marriage, etc… It is amazing how many people who claim to be Christians try to rationalize through sins in their life to make them appear as if they were almost righteous. Sin involves transgressing the law (I John 3:4) and self. What sin is there that is not selfish? The point is not to strike up controversy with what is sinful and what is not, but you would agree that there are people that are still addicted to sin that have not changed. Paul stated that he would not be brought under the power of anything (I Cor. 6:12). There are things in the world that may not be against the law, but it may still be a sin in God’s eyes. One example would be homosexual marriages. Homosexuality is clearly condemned in scripture (Rom.1:26-28, I Cor. 6:9, Jude 7). Therefore, Paul is saying that things may be lawful, but they will not help with our spirituality because it is still sin in God’s eyes. Certainly trying to rationalize a sin by claiming that it is not sinful indicates that you have been brought under the power of sin and that you are obeying sin in its lusts (Rom. 6:12).
I guess the question that remains is why? Why do people sometimes continue in sin and attempt to rationalize their way through scripture? Heb. 11:25 explains this concept clearly: sin is a passing pleasure. That’s right, sin is pleasurable. Alcohol is a depressant, so if we’re stressed it soothes us. Sex feels good. Watching people doing perverted things for the camera takes us to a fantasy world and it causes them to lust. Sin is pleasurable, it makes us feel good. Do you know what’s even more warped? Some people like to rape, murder, and even have sex with children. Those utterly disgust me. But to the serial rapist, serial killer, and the pedophile, it is pleasurable. Pretty sick, huh? But if we’re sinning and trying to rationalize it, we’re no better than the pedophile. Sin is sin in God’s eyes and he hates the sinner (Ps. 5:4-6). Strong words to read. You know what’s even more interesting? Most people in the world frown upon rape, murder, and pedophilia. In fact, if something is against the law, the majority of those things are frowned upon by the world as well. However, if you only believe that something is sinful according to society’s standards, how are you any different as a Christian? Read Romans 12:1,2. The other part of Heb. 11:25, is that sin is a passing pleasure. Maybe you are trying to stop a certain sin in your life. Although a sin may be pleasurable while you are doing it, the pleasure only can last for so long. Once you are done, the only thing left to feel is guilt. Sin is a passing pleasure that leads to an eternity of hell but the joys of heaven are eternal and never passing.
Good thoughts Steve. Humans, even those trying to live right, have hard time not being short-sighted. That is why they are continually deceived by passing pleasures. We have to keep trying to remember what is truly important when the hard temptations come.
it's certainly not the academic part that makes dealing with addictions so tough. you fail to see the difficulty because either 1) you have not faced a true addiction (which would be marvelous for your sake), or 2) you are in denial of your own (which is lamentable, but you can overcome).
i would define a "bad" addiction as a need for something that is not life sustaining. we're all "addicted" to air, water, food, love.. we should also be addicted to Christ, and serving our brethren.
you mentioned exercising, bungee jumping and coke. these things are not inherently evil. i'm still formulating my thinking on this, but it seems to me that any addiction to something that is not necessary for life (physical or eternal) is idolatry. i don't know.. what do you think?
Steve, do you think all addictions have some sort of physiological component? it seems like everything is called an addiction these days, but to me that a true addiction must have some connection to a chemical influence of the body.
for example a person may said to be "addicted" to a non-caffeinated drink in the sense of habit - they drink a yoo-hoo every day. but going without has no affect on their mood, whereas a person addicted to caffeine will have headaches, etc. likewise some physical behaviors lead to a release of dopamine or some other "-mine", I believe, and thus create a chemical addiction to said behavior.
i have heard that people can be addicted to getting tattoos, so I am not sure how that fits into my theory.
Maybe it is just me, but why is it that I feel that Christians always have the toughest time getting along? I know with myself that fellow brethren are the ones who really know how to push my buttons the most, but never will people push my buttons outside in the world. Not that it may occur often, at least I hope not. I find this to be quite a fascinating concept. Why do you think Christians do this to one another? First, I do not believe that Christians do this to each other purposefully, at least I hope not… maybe in times of arrogance. However, the closer we are to each other, the more likely we will push each others’ buttons from time to time. As a side note, psychologists always stipulate that when conflict does occur in a close relationship, if handled correctly, the relationship will only grow stronger. This makes sense as conflicts test how we will handle a certain situation. If we handle a dispute in an incorrect manner, then the relationship goes down the toilet. If we handle the dispute correctly, then it makes the relationship stronger. In fact, this is probably the reason why it is spoken of by John in I Jn. 4:20,21. God wants for us to get our relationships right with our brethren and even with our enemies (Matt. 5:43-48). Jesus never had a bad relationship with the father and likewise we should be the same. This is important because we rely on each other for so many things such as advice (II Cor. 8:10), to help us through our sins (Jam. 5:16), to help edify one another (Rom. 14:19), to comfort in times of distress (I Thes. 5:11), and much more. Yet, I feel that sometimes we get upset with one another and it just makes the problem worse. We are quick to point out one another’s flaws rather than seeing our own. I believe that Jesus spoke about hypocrisy in Matt. 7:1-6 to demonstrate the absurdity of the sin. Can you imagine having a plank in your eye? If you ever literally have a plank in your eye I recommend calling 9-1-1. If you figuratively have a plank in your eye, then I recommend calling, or praying, on the Lord for humbleness in order to admit your faults. After I get upset about something I will usually try to rationalize why the other was wrong. When I do this, I always come to a conclusion: if I have tried to rationalize a situation to put the blame on another, then I was already at fault to for not being humble enough to determine a strategy that would make the problem better, such as an apology. If we can handle these hard times correctly, then we will only grow closer. WHAT AN AWESOME PRIVILEGE! There is always good to be found in all things. Pride is the only thing we must first overcome to develop this deeper relationship with one another. Sometimes it is even necessary to make an apology even if you were right about something because you may have handled the situation incorrectly. Apologies usually come with sincerity and maybe even a nice handshake or hug to demonstrate how truly sorry you are. Amen (I do not know if I can “amen” myself, but I will anyway).
i think it is the restrictive mentality that many Christians we know possess which causes people to struggle to get along with each other when they don't have identical doctrinal beliefs* .
* i am by no means advocating sinning that grace may abound. there are limits (restrictions) on what is righteous and what is sinful, but some have built hedges around that. this causes those with hedges to judge those without, and those without hedges to disdain those within. bad.
maybe its a kind of irony...trying to be unified exposes ways that we are not. if we have no problems / difficulties it probably means that our involvement is superficial. But we certainly should not push buttons...fortunately that never happens on pleonast :)
that's not me in the hat. "the beard cap costs a whopping $135 and is only sold at a place called Scandinavian Grace in Brooklyn." - adam i think i covered the "false doctrine" thing with my asterisk caveat.
but, who is a liar except he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? (not all deviations are "false doctrine")
It amazes me that Christians believe that they are all set when it comes to their response to attain God’s grace. This is formerly known as the plan of salvation. However, I find it difficult to call it the “plan of salvation” because God’s plan was that people would respond to the gospel and be saved. The gospel is really centered on Christ’s death and what it means for us as sinners. Once we hear the gospel, we have a choice, to respond or reject the gospel. So how do we respond?
Hear (Rom. 10:17) – Of course this should be obvious. Hearing centers around listening to someone else preach or teach it or reading about the gospel. Either way, we would not know what to believe if we have not studied on the issue; a surgeon would not perform surgery if he did not know anything about what he was doing surgery on.
Believe (Acts 10:43, Heb. 11:1,6) – Believing is an action, or work (synonymous terms)(Jn. 6:29). This makes sense. You choose to either believe (accept) or remain an unbeliever (reject) to the gospel. There is not some miraculous event that occurs that takes control of your body and forces you to believe. Only you can believe, nothing in this universe or anything supernatural can make you believe anything. God allows free will (Rom. 13:12). We have the choice to do good or bad deeds.
Repentance (Luke 24:47, Acts 2:38) – The word repentance means to turn around. If you are evil, then the idea of repentance is to turn around and stop doing evil and focus on the good. This is necessary if we want remission, or forgiveness, of sins. This also is an action and we control what we want to do.
Confess (Rom. 10:9,10) – Again, this is an action. This also is a necessary step to be saved. This is NOT a confession of sins, which simply means to confess Christ to others in the world and not deny Him (Matt. 10:33, I Jn. 2:22). However, there nothing wrong with confessing sins to one another as to help the fellow brother out (James 5:16). In addition, we need to confess our sins to God (I Jn. 1:19). However, in this context, it simply means to confess Jesus. We need to follow the example of the Ethiopian Eunuch in (Acts 8:26-39, check v. 37).
Baptism (Acts 2:38, Mk. 16:16, I Pet. 3:21) – Baptism is another action, or work. Is baptism necessary? Hmmm, that is a good question. We must understand that the bible harmonizes, otherwise we would believe a faulty God and I do not believe He is faulty. We do not have to be baptized if we do not want to be. However, Acts. 2:38 says that it is for the forgiveness of sins and Mark 16:16 says we need baptism if we want to be saved. If we do not want forgiveness of sins, then do not become baptized. However, it is the forgiveness of sins that saves us (Heb. 9:22). According to Hebrews there has to be shedding of blood. Does this mean we should kill a man or animal? Not physically, animals were put to death under the Old Covenant for the atonement of the Jews’ sins. We’re under the New Covenant and under this covenant a Man was already murdered, His name was Jesus and He was also God on earth. But still something has to die, but what? You have to die! But before you go out and consider suicide, hear what was said by Paul in Rom. 6:1-8. You have to kill the old self, the sinner, you do this by being baptized, which is a representation of His death. Baptism only needs to occur once, you cannot continually kill the old man neither like continuing to kill a man physically after he has already died. Do you remember the Ethiopian Eunuch (Acts 8:37)? Belief was a prerequisite to baptism as well as confession. Belief is what led to the baptism.
Live faithful until death (Tit. 2:12) – It does not stop with baptism we must live faithful lives. God’s word outlines how we should live our lives. We should always let God be our guide. We find it very helpful to have a teacher teach us so we can go about carrying out a career. If we had to learn everything first hand by doing research that has already been done, the learning process would take forever. Teachers make our lives easier by explaining difficult concepts for our understanding. Likewise, God helps us by outlining how we should live our lives, the bible is a teaching tool and we should venture outside of it.
Conclusion – Back to my point from the very first sentence. What did I mean by that. Oftentimes, Christians will think that they’ve followed the plan of salvation. Notice how I phrased that in the past tense “followed”. Friends, it is not just a one-step process, it is a continual process. We must continue believing to be right with God, we must always repent because there will be times when we sin as Christians, we need to constantly confess Jesus so we can teach others who are willing to hear as this is our responsibility (Matt. 28:18-20). Baptism does not need to continually occur, but forgiveness of sins does, remember what I discussed with regards to confessing sins (I Jn. 1:19)? Figuratively, we will constantly sacrifice Christ on the cross with our sins. Our response to the plan of salvation is continuous.
I was recently watching a documentary entitled “Bigger, Faster, Stronger”. The movie is a documentary on steroid use. The entire emphasis, or theme of the movie, was encapsulated around one question: Are we cheating if we use steroids? Being involved in sports medicine as a career, I took interest to this movie. There are many claims about steroids that the media negatively portrays such as an increase in aggression, increase in suicide, it will hurt the body, etc… However, none of those claims have been proven scientifically and that is correct. Yet, an increase in hair growth, breast tissue, deepening of the voice, and much more do exist. There are always side affects with drugs. What I found of particular interest is that musicians before getting on stage will take beta-blockers to help calm their nerves. However, in an audition, this may be considered cheating. Whether or not you call it cheating, I could care less. There will always be debates on drug enhancers for whatever you do. What I found of even more interest was the narrator’s two brothers. One brother was/is a power lifter. He took steroids to enhance his lifts. When he had a discussion with his wife about steroids she did not want for him to be on steroids any longer because of her concern for him. So he decided that he would stop taking them. However, his brother (the narrator) asked him if he would ever take them again and he said “yes”. He even said that he would lie to his wife to do it. The narrator’s other brother wanted to be a big-shot wrestler. He would always do demo tapes and send them the WF, but they never wanted him because he was too old. Because of his steroid-use and his false reality and not being happy with his life (after all, you would think that his family would be enough for him) he knew he made his wife cry herself to sleep some nights. He was a little teary eyed about it. By reading between the lines we can truly see that the theme to this movie was about selfishness and greed and how it affects others. Here are some of my commentaries about the movie.
1. “Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God” (Gal 5:19-21). Did you notice “selfish ambitions” in there? Those with selfish ambitions seek only things that will benefit them. It also leads to covetousness, which we understand to be a sin (I Cor. 6: 9,10). Covetousness regards seeking those physical things that will not sustain our spiritual life. Therefore if we seek fame by being a big power lifter or some famous wrestler, we are being covetous.
2. “The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. And likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does” (I Cor. 7:4). Why would we ever lie to our spouse? If our wives want us to quit doing something then we need to do it. This is a humble attitude. And likewise we must understand that if we desire something from our wives then they also should be humble enough to do as the husband asks. However, these things must be within reason. For example, if we had an unbelieving spouse, then we would not listen to them if they asked us not to go to church on Sunday mornings because God always comes first. The woman also must not over step her boundary as the role of the wife with the husband as the head of the family with ultimate decision making regarding the family is left to the man, “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything” (Eph. 5:22-24). This is a command. However, if a woman wants her husband to quit taking steroids because of her concern for him, then I believe the man should be willing to do as his wife asks and quit taking steroids. That is a reasonable request. To stop taking steroids would be to honor the wife (I Pet. 3:7). We must remember that the movie is dealing with worldly people.
3. “in like manner also, that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with propriety and moderation, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing, but, which is proper for women professing godliness, with good works” (I Tim. 2:9, 10). One aspect of this scripture that we must understand is that this also applies to the man (James 2:1-4). We understand that the scripture mentions women because they are more vulnerable to these temptations. The outward appearance does not matter. Others may judge us based on our outward appearance, but if all we’re ever focused on is how we look then we do not leave room to focus on God. This is why how we look should not concern us to such a great extent. These thoughts are vain and empty.
4. “And also if anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules” (2 Tim. 2:5). Using steroids does help to increase performance, there is no denying this fact. We may utilize many different ergogenic aids to help our performance in our physical lives, but there are no shortcuts or ergogenic aids to help us grow and become stronger in the faith. We can only grow if we are learning to fully abide by his word and doing our best to stay far away from sin as possible and constant studying and prayer in God.
My recommendation, you’re better off watching Veggie Tales, which is also very amusing.
