Seeds For Thinking

Link: http://seedsforthinking.oldgleaner.com/

* Conclusions
* Scripture: Jesus said, “For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ But wisdom is justified by her children.” Mt. 11:18-19, NKJV

An incident that happened to me while growing up on the farm brought home the full meaning of the maxim “Look before you leap.”
We had a lane, an unpaved path, connecting several fields with the buildings in the farmyard. One low spot was a perennial mud hole, stirred up into a gooey slop from vehicle and livestock traffic. As I rode my bicycle down the lane to fetch the cows in for the evening milking, I noted a pile of gravel that Dad had apparently brought in to fill the mud hole. Wow! A launch pad, just waiting to shoot me into the wild blue yonder.
Peddling furiously, I strove for takeoff speed. Up, up, up, perfect form! From my elevated viewpoint, I now had a full view of my landing point. Alas! Bicycles have neither air brakes nor wings. I quickly understood why Dad had not yet spread the gravel; he had dug a ditch to install a drainage pipe in the wet area, which now lay open before me. The laws of physics and gravity kicked in big time. Bicycle, boy, and bold aspirations of flight reached the lowest common denominator.
A quick survey from the bottom of the ditch determined that the major damage was to my dignity, but my collective wisdom clicked up another notch.
Add this thought to your maxim collection: “If in doubt, check it out.” My pride would not have taken such a tumble, for example, had I simply checked out both sides of that gravel pile.
What does this have to do with the chosen scripture passage? Well, hopefully it will serve to illustrate that leaping to conclusions can result in bad decisions, just like blindly jumping a gravel pile.
Jesus was likening his contemporary generation to children at play, comparing their refusal to join either a mock funeral or a mock marriage in the marketplace to the people’s refusal to accept either John the Baptist or Jesus. Instead, they stood aloof from both, making excuses based on wrong conclusions about them (vss. 16, 17.)
Seen from the proper perspective, neither John nor Jesus were in error. John was following the tenets of the Nazarite vow, as established in the Laws of Moses, and was not to eat nor drink anything from the grapevine. Matthew, Chapter 11, affirms that John’s behavior was consistent with prophecy and scripture, and their conclusions about him illustrated their lack of knowledge.
Likewise, their conclusions about Jesus were in error. Jesus points out that the well have no need of the physician, and that He came not to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance. (Mt. 9:12, 13)
True wisdom is not found in the “children” who stand aloof, but in those who accept Jesus and John.
Yes, jumping to conclusions is indeed a tricky business.
July 10, 2005

Link: http://seedsforthinking.oldgleaner.com/

Scripture: Jesus said, “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, “I am the Christ, and will deceive many.”
Mt. 24:4, 5. NIV

We begin this edition of Fairyland News with a fast-breaking story:
Three mice were observed running into the Hickory-Dickory clock tower. The clock struck one; we do not yet know which one.
A local musician’s son was apprehended earlier today running down the street with a pig under his arm. The pilfered pig turned out to be from Farmer Fred’s herd. The young man, named Tom, was chastised and remanded to the custody of his father, the Town Piper. The pig was reportedly being held for evidence.
An incident at the town well is being investigated on two counts. A young male was treated at the scene for a personal injury to his head after Jack and Jill fell while fetching a pail of water. The accident raises safety concerns to be addressed by the city, while the first aid treatment will be scrutinized by the Medical Board.
The housing shortage is becoming more evident in the city as citizens turn to unconventional structures. Peter the Pumpkin Eater has moved his wife into a pumpkin shell, while one widow has moved her family into a shoe.
On the social scene, Old King Cole has thrown another of his successful and well-attended parties. Everybody who is anybody was there, except for Humpty Dumpty, who is suffering from a devastating fall from the city wall.
The Prince is searching the kingdom this morning for the charming young lady who obviously captivated his heart at the ball, only to depart suddenly at the stroke of midnight, leaving behind a glass slipper. . .

Hopefully, you recognized the nursery rhymes used as the basis of my slightly twisted news report. Perhaps you recited them to yourself. Recognition is one thing; accuracy another. My purpose is to point out that many twist the Gospel - the Good News - with empty claims concerning Jesus and the scriptures.
Jesus warned that many false prophets will appear, with claims no more valid than fairy tales. (Mt. 24:11; see also Rev. 13:11-18)
Peter speaks at length of false teachers in 2 Peter, Chapter 2. Peter states, “For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of human nature, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error.”
Fairy tales; empty words.
Get the Good News; Read your Bible daily!
September 28, 2003

Link: http://seedsforthinking.oldgleaner.com/

Scripture: Paul said, “For in him we live and move and have our being. As some of your own poets have said, “We are his offspring.” Acts 17:28, NIV

Sometimes partial or inaccurate information can be worse than no information at all. A report of a news story with the names of those involved mixed up, or the events distorted, may not only confuse people, but also bring long-term agony to the subjects of the report.
We’ve all seen or read them - maybe! “Corrections” notices buried deep within the newspaper that most people miss. Perhaps it was the reporter’s error for not getting all the information. It may have been one of the subjects interviewed for the story who gave misleading information; after all, people generally want to give a good impression of themselves, and many have been known to ‘stretch’ the truth a little - in their favor, of course.
Perhaps you have watched one of those advertisements for some tool or “wonder” gadget. “It slices, it dices . . .” - you know the type. The marvelous device is not only described in glowing terms, but demonstrated right before your eyes! “Got to have one of those,” people say. The real wonder is why you bought the wonder gadget in the first place!
Incomplete information. Mis-representation. Just sloppy reporting. All can have a detrimental effect on the person looking for “the facts, sir, just the plain facts.”
We expect the truth in a court of law. If you’ve ever sat on a jury, especially a domestic relations case, you know one side isn’t telling all the truth. “The whole truth” is sometimes missing.
It is said that figures don’t lie, but liars can figure! Now, we wouldn’t deliberately mislead people would we? Of course not. After all, we are Christians, and we know that Christ didn't lie. Hmmm!?!
We trust that statistics illustrate the truth, yet President Harry Truman said that statistics is one of the most outrageous forms of lying.
When a hen cackles, does it mean she is laying an egg, or is she lying? We have had a rooster who cackled just like a hen. While he might have been proud of his ‘ladies,’ it wasn’t his egg. He told a good story, but he was lying!
So when a Christian ‘cackles,’ are they lying or laying? Are we truthfully making known The One whom we are representing? People eventually ‘read’ all of our life, not just the events we include, and not just the way we wish they would read it. We can describe our Christliness in glowing terms, we can point to Christ as the Lord of All, but unless people can read our story fully and openly without causing either of us to blush, we have sadly missed the mark!

Link: http://seedsforthinking.oldgleaner.com/

Scripture: Jesus said, “For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ But wisdom is justified by her children.” Mt. 11:18-19, NKJV

An incident that happened to me while growing up on the farm brought home the full meaning of the maxim “Look before you leap.”
We had a lane, an unpaved path, connecting several fields with the buildings in the farmyard. One low spot was a perennial mud hole, stirred up into a gooey slop from vehicle and livestock traffic. As I rode my bicycle down the lane to fetch the cows in for the evening milking, I noted a pile of gravel that Dad had apparently brought in to fill the mud hole. Wow! A launch pad, just waiting to shoot me into the wild blue yonder.
Peddling furiously, I strove for takeoff speed. Up, up, up, perfect form! From my elevated viewpoint, I now had a full view of my landing point. Alas! Bicycles have neither air brakes nor wings. I quickly understood why Dad had not yet spread the gravel; he had dug a ditch to install a drainage pipe in the wet area, which now lay open before me. The laws of physics and gravity kicked in big time. Bicycle, boy, and bold aspirations of flight reached the lowest common denominator.
A quick survey from the bottom of the ditch determined that the major damage was to my dignity, but my collective wisdom clicked up another notch.
Add this thought to your maxim collection: “If in doubt, check it out.” My pride would not have taken such a tumble, for example, had I simply checked out both sides of that gravel pile.
What does this have to do with the chosen scripture passage? Well, hopefully it will serve to illustrate that leaping to conclusions can result in bad decisions, just like blindly jumping a gravel pile.
Jesus was likening his contemporary generation to children at play, comparing their refusal to join either a mock funeral or a mock marriage in the marketplace to the people’s refusal to accept either John the Baptist or Jesus. Instead, they stood aloof from both, making excuses based on wrong conclusions about them (vss. 16, 17.)
Seen from the proper perspective, neither John nor Jesus were in error. John was following the tenets of the Nazarite vow, as established in the Laws of Moses, and was not to eat nor drink anything from the grapevine. Matthew, Chapter 11, affirms that John’s behavior was consistent with prophecy and scripture, and their conclusions about him illustrated their lack of knowledge.
Likewise, their conclusions about Jesus were in error. Jesus points out that the well have no need of the physician, and that He came not to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance. (Mt. 9:12, 13)
True wisdom is not found in the “children” who stand aloof, but in those who accept Jesus and John.
Yes, jumping to conclusions is indeed a tricky business.
July 10, 2005