Proverbs 26:12
There is more hope for a fool
than for someone who says,
“I’m really smart!”
Scripture taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1991,1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.
When
I was a little girl, my mother would make tuna casserole for us when my
dad was away on business. Daddy did not like tuna casserole…or fish
sticks…and I loved both. So it was a rare treat to have either one. I
find that I make a lot of the dishes from my childhood for Timothy, Zola
and Nathan. I suppose that I am carrying on the tradition - and
perpetuating fond memories from my own childhood.
So one day, I
made a tuna casserole as lunch for Nathan, Greg and me. It was very
simple…a basic cream sauce, mini bow-tie pasta, some frozen “English”
peas, and a can of sliced carrots…plus a couple of cans of drained
tuna. After I mixed all of this together, I added American cheese. I
was running short on time, so I did not bake this dish like my mother
did (complete with crushed potato chips on top for texture – and fun!),
but I let the “flavors” melt and blend together a little before
serving. Can’t you just feel the love?!
Nathan eagerly plowed
into his plate of pasta…and he meticulously picked out every single
bow-tie and ate them. He ate the creamy sauce and tuna that clung to
the noodles…but just as carefully, he left a pile of green peas and
carrots. Then he declared, “I’m done!” “No,” I told him…”you have not
finished.” “Yes, I have!” he protested. I insisted he needed to eat
his peas and carrots. “But I don’t ‘wike’ them,” he said. “They’re
yukky!” I argued that he had eaten peas and carrots countless
times…that he LOVED them. He insisted he did not.
I told Nathan
that he could not have anything else to eat – or get down from the
counter – until he finished his lunch. So I got a spoon and presented
him with some peas and carrots and said, “Just try one bite.”
Reluctantly – and with much fanfare and drama – this stubborn 3-year-old
tried the vegetables. And he looked at me with great surprise and
delight and said, “Hey! These aren’t yukky! They taste GOOD!” He
began to shovel in the peas and carrots…and every few bites, he would
say, “This is so GOOD!” And then he had another helping of the
casserole!
There are a lot of things that three-year-olds say
they don’t like – and haven’t even tried. Life is full of seemingly
“yukky” things when we are young. But if we are still operating like
this at our ages, there is a problem. Assuming that we “know it all” is
not only incorrect…it often makes us look incredibly foolish.
Too
many people are spouting off these days without all the facts…speaking
what is their “truth” rather than God’s…and trying to appear smarter
than the rest of us. In reality, they are looking rather foolish and
hurting other people…AND their “Christian” witness. As a friend of mine
so eloquently asked, “Why do people presume to speak for God?”
Understand her question…she is not suggesting that God can’t use us to
share His message with others. What she means is…why do we feel
entitled to put our own spin on things?
I’m reminded of the
question asked of Jesus in Luke 20:2, where the chief priests, the
teachers, and the nation’s leaders “asked him, “What right do you have
to do these things? Who gave you this authority?’” In other words…”Who
died and made you King?” Read this chapter of Luke for yourself to see
how Jesus responded with a question they could not answer…at least not
without incriminating themselves. The point is that we are often just
as immature as a three-year-old who declares his food to be “yukky”…and
we usually look just about as foolish!
It’s time for us to check
ourselves…to see where we are acting more than a little high and
mighty…and damaging our Christian witness in the process. Where are we
coming off as “know-it-alls” about everything from social issues to
scripture interpretation to how much everyone loves and adores us?
Where are we looking more foolish than a toddler? Isn’t it time we
opened our hearts, minds, eyes and ears and heard from God before we
declared ourselves to be “King?” Will this be the day that you get
started?
©2015 Debbie Robus
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