Here is another “Quint of Quotes” from my collection. Five somewhat related quotes, but not exactly in agreement. Hope you find them interesting and thought-provoking.
“To admire mere choice is to refuse to choose” – G.K. Chesterton
“Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.” – Mahatma Gandhi
“Liberty is the only thing you cannot have unless you are willing to give it to others.” – William Allen White
“But what is liberty without wisdom, and without virtue? It is the greatest of all possible evils; for it is folly, vice, and madness, without tuition or restraint.” – Edmund Burke, Irish statesman
“Nothing is more seductive for man than his freedom of conscience, but nothing is a greater cause of suffering” – Ivan, in The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Today’s Sunday Share comes from Sam Emadi, senior pastor at Hunsinger Lane Baptist Church in Louisville, KY. This post from the 9Marks website discusses whether Christians should “engage in the worldly practice of name-calling or employing theological slurs”, especially tempting in “our social-media-dominated outrage culture.”
Read the entire post by clicking this link to open it in a new tab. (Estimated reading time 5 minutes)
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.
The video below is a funny illustration of Beehive Soccer (or Morality), versus coordination among well-coached players toward a common goal. The Beehive may think its winning because they having fun and doing the “popular” thing, but they’re really just “beating the air.” 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.
Here is another “Quint of Quotes” from my collection, on the theme of personal responsibility and development. Please don’t take the last one literally.
“When a man’s folly brings his way to ruin, his heart rages against the LORD.” – Proverbs 19:3
“People could survive their natural trouble all right if it weren’t for the trouble they make for themselves.” – Ogden Nash
“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” – Common prayer adapted from Reinhold Niebuhr
“Millions of people die every year of something they could cure themselves: lack of wisdom and lack of ability to control their impulses.” -Irving Kahn, investor who died at 109 of natural causes in 2015
“And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire.” – Matthew 18:8
Have you ever asked yourself what Solomon, son of David, king of Israel, and author of much Biblical wisdom, would have to say about modern retirement? Probably not, but I’m going to write about it anyway, because Solomon actually had some relevant advice.
Since this blog is not a source of income, I have a day job which happens to involve helping companies help their employees save and invest for retirement. In American culture, retirement has in some ways replaced heaven as the future we hope for. Advertisements promise retirees can do all the things they dreamed of doing during their working years. Travel. Relax. Read those books you’ve been putting off reading. If you can, buy a yacht. After all, if you’ve worked so hard for it, you deserve it, they say. Like many marketing schemes, something good and prudent (saving for retirement) is wrapped in a lot of gloss to get you to do something you might not do otherwise. Sacrifices made now are worthwhile because of a later reward.
A photo I took from a Florida beach over the Atlantic near sunrise. I’d like to retire here, but heaven is better.
A guest at church this morning inspired me to write this post, since he was working with a ministry to grandparents. The ministry is called Legacy Coalition (website link). While talking with him, I made a connection and wanted to share it here. That connection is that Solomon[1] when writing Ecclesiastes was acting in the role of a wise, Godly grandfather in a way that offers a sharp contrast to the story of retirement that goes unchallenged in our culture.
In Ecclesiastes, Solomon lays out an argument that he lived almost the exact life pictured in our retirement ads but learned to regret it. While still a very young man, he had the power and wealth to try anything he wanted. He planted vineyards and drank a lot of wine. He built gardens and pools and acquired many servants and property. He also had 700 wives and 300 concubines.[2] He could have everything he desired – everything the retirement ads would show you if they could be R-rated – but he ended up disappointed. Ecclesiastes is his advice to those who come after to not repeat his mistakes.
While a blog post can’t cover all of Ecclesiastes, I must add that Solomon did encourage us to invest for the future, but also not to place all our bets on one specific vision of the future: “Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days. Give a portion to seven, or even to eight, for you know not what disaster may happen on earth.” (Ecclesiastes 11:1-2). A long, healthy and prosperous retirement is one possible future among many, but eternity with God is a future certainty. Earlier in the book, Solomon writes: “He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11) God gives us a sense of what He has planned for us, but not many of the details. We should not foolishly ignore the future, but we should not cling to one future we desire at the cost of the present God has given us and the future He already knows everything about.
Solomon encourages everyone – young and old – to live more in their own moment, enjoying the gifts God has given them and sharing those gifts with the people around them. While Solomon is encouraging the young to not repeat his own mistakes, he is also encouraging the old to share their perspective. In both cases, Solomon is telling us not to stress too much about what may or may not happen, but to invest what we have in light of what will be meaningful in eternity. Joy comes from enjoying the relationships and things God has blessed us with now, not from sacrificing the now in light of a false vision of retirement.
Solomon recommends joy in God’s provision, and so I close with this quote, and pray that we all experience joy and thankfulness in the gifts God has given us today. Don’t keep them to yourself.
“Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do. Let your garments be always white. Let not oil be lacking on your head. Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain life that he has given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.” – Ecclesiastes 9:7-10
[This Rewind Wednesday post was originally posted in March 2022]
[1] I’m going to proceed for the sake of argument that Solomon is the author of Ecclesiastes, although I know some debate that and it’s not explicitly stated. [2] 1 Kings 11:3
Driving Toward the Morning Sun 