Tag Wisdom

Avoiding Beehive Morality

Todd R 1 Comment

Anyone who has watched very young kids play soccer, or especially anyone who has coached youth soccer, knows what I mean by “Beehive Soccer”:  Two lonely and bored goalkeepers stand by their goals at each end of the field, while both teams of players closely swarm around one ball.  Some of the players on each team have an idea which direction to kick the ball, but others just want to kick it.  Often a kicked ball ricochets around inside the swarm, unable to escape the vortex of kids.  The goalkeepers might as well play with some blades of grass, or bugs if they’re lucky.

At Beehive Soccer games, parents on the sideline cheer at any progress at all, and grimace whenever some kid (perhaps theirs) nearly takes a soccer ball to the face.  Coaches yell “spread out!”, then shake their heads, put their hands on their hips, then yell “spread out!” again a moment later.  Coaches must let the parents know they are doing something, and it’s all in good fun – they (the kids) will grow out of it.

Often morality is pursued in the same way.  In Beehive Morality, masses of people crowd around one problem, kicking aimlessly, organized by vague goals, or even just some anger and some hashtags on social media, but doomed to reach a less-than-ideal solution because their activities are not organized.  Maybe they attempt to swarm around multiple goals at the same time.

In Beehive Soccer, young kids have not had time to be coached and learn coordination based on individual positions, nor are many of them mature enough to pay attention to coaching when all of the other kids are playing Beehive Soccer.  It’s no fun being the only kid playing by the rules.  In society, too many behave the same way, thinking the objective is just to show enthusiasm for whatever game is being played that day, but making no real progress.  Many play along and keep “kicking” because it’s no fun being the only person left out of the crowd.

In economics, this is called a Coordination Problem, where multiple people aren’t aligned and cooperating toward a common goal.  Unfortunately, Beehive Morality can cause a Coordination Problem in the church, but in 1 Corinthians 9:24-26, the apostle Paul encourages the church in Corinth (and every church today than can read Paul’s letter) to focus on a goal, and put every effort toward it: “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.  Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air.”  This “beating the air” reminds me of the Beehive Soccer kids, or Beehive Morality adults – there’s a lot of activity, but not a lot of coordinated work toward a real, helpful, objective.

But what are the objectives for God’s people?  The two most important commandments – the instructions of our Coach – are: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind”, and “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”[1]

Elsewhere, Paul has advice as the young Timothy’s “coach,” sharing these words of encouragement in 2 Timothy 2:3-6 – “Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.  No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.  An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.  It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops.”[2]  The soldier and athlete look forward to victory, and the farmer looks forward to harvest, but until then must work diligently, enduring sacrifice in patience, knowing the reward is worth the temporary problems, even if sometimes it’s no fun not kicking along with the crowd and playing Beehive Soccer.

Remember, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind”, and “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  Swarming around the ball labelled with the current hot hashtag topic – or many topics – is not the objective.

[1] From Matthew 22:37 and 39
[2] 2 Timothy 2:3-6

Is Democracy Good? A Quint of Quotes

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Fellow travelers,

Too often people argue over whether something is 100% good or 100% bad and lose sight of the fact that everything in this world is imperfect.  In light of that imperfection, here is another “Quint of Quotes” from my collection, on the theme of democracy:

“Democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half of the people are right more than half of the time.” – E.B. White

“Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.” – H.L. Mencken

“Mankind will in time discover that unbridled majorities are as tyrannical and cruel as unlimited despots.” – John Adams

“Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays instead of serving you if he sacrifices it to your opinion.” – Edmund Burke

“Consider the work of God: who can make straight what he has made crooked?” – Ecclesiastes 7:13

To Us a Child is Born

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In response to a reader suggestion, I’ve figured out what Bible verses are quoted the most here and am writing a series about those verses.  Today’s post is #2 of the series, covering the verse quoted the 2nd least out of the 10 most quoted, Isaiah 9:6.

“For to us a child is born,
            to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
            and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
            Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

This verse makes the most-quoted list because I of a Christmas series about it inspired by James Boice, who compared the 4 names Christ is called in this verse to Christmas gifts we can all have.  “Four gifts for Christmas. They are the greatest gifts that anybody can give or we can have, and they are all in Jesus. They are for us. They are for you, if you will have them.”

Boice speculated that if we took a poll (and people were honest), we could find out that people’s deepest needs are wisdom, the power to do what is right, satisfying relationships, and reconciliation with God and others through forgiveness.  Then we’d realize that the 4 aspects of Christ from Isaiah 9:6 would meet those deepest, most significant needs, like this:

            As Wonderful Counselor, He is our source of wisdom;
            As Mighty God, He will empower us to live as He did;
            As Everlasting Father, He invites us with unconditional love into His family;
            As Prince of Peace, He buys peace between us and Him, and between us and others.

Because Jesus came and lived and died for us, we can have all of these things because He offers them to us as a free gift to those who accept Him.  So, Christmas may have already passed, but Jesus still lives and is the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy:

“For to us a child is born,
            to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
            and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
            Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

Regardless of the season, we can be thankful for all that God has given us in Christ.

Amen.

Popular Orthodoxy: A Quint of Quotes

Todd R 1 Comment

Fellow travelers,

Here is another “Quint of Quotes” from my collection.  These five somewhat related sayings suggest the particular time and place we live in may not be very different from every other time and place.  I hope you find them interesting and thought-provoking.

“Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made.  He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?…the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.” – Genesis 3:1,4

“Every age has some ostentatious system to excuse the havoc it commits. Conquest, honour, chivalry, religion, balance of power, commerce, no matter what, mankind must bleed, and take a term for a reason” – Horace Walpole, British politician, in 1762

“There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.” – Proverbs 14:12, 16:25

“At any given moment there is an orthodoxy, a body of ideas of which it is assumed that all right-thinking people will accept without question. It is not exactly forbidden to say this, that or the other, but it is ‘not done’ to say it… Anyone who challenges the prevailing orthodoxy finds himself silenced with surprising effectiveness. A genuinely unfashionable opinion is almost never given a fair hearing, either in the popular press or in the high-brow periodicals”. – George Orwell, in the 1945 introduction to ‘Animal Farm.’

“For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.  As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” – 2 Timothy 4:3-5

Limited Boasting

Todd R 2 Comments

I took a strategy class years ago in business school, but about the only thing I remember the professor saying is (paraphrasing): “Strategy includes not only doing our best at what we do but also deciding what not to do.”  There were a couple of points to this.  One, it’s important to not get distracted in order to do the things that need to be done.  Second, and more importantly, it’s essential to be deliberate and intentional about what we should not be doing.  We should know what things ours are to deal with and which things aren’t.  Not that we can always avoid things, but strategy involves knowing what those things are.

The apostles Paul and Peter understood this principle.  In Romans 11:13, Paul referred to himself as “an apostle to the Gentiles.”  Of course, he often preached in the Jewish synagogues of the towns he visited, but he knew his emphasis should be on getting the Gospel to the Gentiles.[1]  On the other hand, the focus of Peter’s ministry was the Jews.  When he wrote 1 Peter, he addressed it to the “Dispersion,”[2] referring mainly to Jews living outside of Palestine, but he also knew Gentiles would benefit from it.

It is this division of labor that Paul refers to in 2 Corinthians 10:13 – “But we will not boast beyond limits, but will boast only with regard to the area of influence God assigned to us, to reach even to you.”

Paul did not boast in his own work but freely boasted of the work of God through him.  He wasn’t being arrogant, but giving God the glory for anything he succeeded in.  But even so, Paul knew his boasting had to be limited to work that was specifically his to do, in this case taking the gospel to Gentiles in Corinth.

If Peter and Paul had limits, each of us do as well.  God understands this better than anyone, since he is the one working through us and also defining those limits, or our “area of influence.”  Warren Wiersbe, commenting on the verse, wrote: “God is not going to measure us on the basis of the gifts and opportunities that He gave to Charles Spurgeon or Billy Sunday. He will measure my work by what He assigned to me.”[3]

It’s a shame in our culture that we have phrases like “silence is complicity,” as if every problem is every person’s problem to solve, and as if speaking out about problems is as good as actually doing something about them.  It’s also a shame that over-emphasis on other people’s problems can easily, and often, keep us from dealing with things right in front of us.  But how do we know what to deal with and not deal with?  Our social media feeds are not the answer.

Knowing our “area of influence”, in my experience, requires constant cultivation of our relationship with God.  Bible study, prayer, meditation, fellowship.  When I’ve made those investments, it’s been amazing how what God says to me has application to specific life situations.  Maybe when I read about patience, I find myself in a situation where it’s hard to be patient.  Maybe I read about holiness, and it makes me confront some sin or bad habit in my life.  Maybe I read about forgiveness and think of someone I may be ignoring or holding a grudge against.  Maybe I learn about a new way to express my spiritual gifts or find a new person to share them with.  Maybe I read about caring for widows and orphans and I learn about a single mother who needs help.

Not all tasks are ours to do, but it’s important to note that we are accountable for the tasks God has for us.  “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10).  While he doesn’t call one person and ask them to do everything, He does call many and gives them their roles.

But the point of this post is that we can’t do everything.  Many situations require prayer that God will provide someone to help.  Someone to bring Christ into that situation.  Sometimes I’ve come across the solution later or found someone else who is in a position to help, but still, I’m not accountable to God for being perfect, for helping everyone I come across.

If we’re paying attention to the “area of influence” in front of us instead of every possible problem in the world, God can do great things through each of us.  But if we don’t intentionally decide to strategically leave some problems alone, we may find ourselves aimless and spinning our wheels.

May God give us all direction.

“But we will not boast beyond limits, but will boast only with regard to the area of influence God assigned to us, to reach even to you.”

[1] See also 1 Timothy 2:7
[2] 1 Peter 1:1
[3] Wiersbe, Warren.  Be Encouraged (2 Corinthians) (1994).  P. 136.