Elementary My Dear Watson

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson went on a camping trip.  As they lay down for the night, Holmes said, "Watson, look up and tell me what you see.”  Watson said, "I see millions and millions of stars."  Holmes asked, "And what does that tell you?”  Watson replied, "Astronomically, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets. Theologically, it tells me that God is great and that we are small and insignificant. Meteorologically, it tells me that we will have a beautiful day tomorrow.  What does it tell you Holmes?"  Holmes answered simply, "Somebody stole our tent."

Sherlock Holmes is a character that is famous for being able to solve the most difficult of cases.  Interestingly, he does this by observing very basic and elementary aspects of a situation.  He then uses this information to form complex and insightful conclusions to help solve the crime.

Throughout Scripture we see discussions on elementary principles for mature Christians and young Christians.  Younger Christians are told to grow (1 Peter 2:2), to mature (1 Corinthians 14:10), and move past the elementary teachings (Hebrews 6:1).

Mature Christians are told to live up to their maturity expectations (1 Corinthians 3:2; Hebrews 5:11-14), to no longer be Children but be grounded in Scripture (Ephesians 4:14), and to continue growing (Ephesians 4:15; 2 Peter 3:18).

The point of these Scriptures is to always grow, mature, and move beyond the elementary principles.  We cannot stay on “milk” forever.  But does this mean once we learn these principles we should toss them aside?  Of course not!  We should always keep these principles firmly in mind.  But for mature Christians, this means continuing to use these elementary principles as a foundation for more complex and deep spiritual thought.  Using them as the foundation.

Sherlock Holmes was all about keeping the elementary principles fresh while using them to bring out depth and complexity.  Young Christians need to continue to learn the elementary principles found in Scripture.  Mature Christians can forget the most basic teachings of Scripture.  Therefore, everyone must always keep these basic principles fresh in mind.  As we grow and press towards maturity of Christians, let’s never forget the basic, yet vital, teachings of the Bible.

Bee Sting

A family was casually driving around sightseeing on their vacation.  It was a warm, clear, summer day and they were enjoying the breeze coming through the rolled down windows.  Soon the peaceful drive was interrupted when a honeybee flew through the open windows and buzzed around the car.  The young girl, allergic to bee stings, squirmed and shrieked as the bee flew close to her.  She called out, “Daddy, daddy!  It’s a bee!  It’s going to sting me!”

The father quickly pulled the car over and began trying to get the bee out of the car.  Unable to do so, and not wanting to anger the bee into accidently stinging his daughter, he cornered the bee against the windshield.  Having the bee trapped, he grasped the bee in his hand and waited for the inevitable sting.  Feeling the sharp pain, he opened his hand and released the bee out the window.  The little girl began panicking again, “Daddy, it’s going to fly back here again and sting me!”  The father gently responded, “No honey, he can’t sting you now.  Look at my hand.”  In his hand was the bee’s stinger.

Notice the powerful words of 1 Corinthians 15:54-57 “…‘DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory. O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?’ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Like the father did for his daughter, Jesus Christ has taken the away death’s stinger for us.  The part that stings in death is when a person dies in sin and apart from the Lord.  It stings because that is the end of life and the beginning of punishment.  However, when we live according to God’s commands in Scripture, death does not need to be feared because it’s sting is gone.  Death just becomes the beginning of eternal life with the Lord.  Death becomes victory. 

Christ made an incredible sacrifice for us by removing death’s sting.  May we always remember and thank God for this sacrifice and taking away the sting of death.

Inviting A Stranger Into The House

Several years ago the parents of a particular family were introduced to a stranger.  He seemed like a decent guy, so they invited him into their house.  To their surprise, this stranger was an incredible storyteller and very personable (even if he was an incessant talker).  The kids especially loved him.  He would walk everyone’s imaginations through adventures and mysteries.  He would tell jokes until their stomachs hurt from laughing.  He even had unparalleled knowledge of animals and other facts about life. 

It didn’t take long for this stranger to become quite popular with the family.  You might even say that he became a family friend.  This stranger connected so well with the family that they decided to let him stick around for a while.  Almost every day he would captivate the family for hours with his incredible tales.

Even though this family was an upright and faithful Christian family, the stranger didn’t seem to want to abide by their rules.  He would use bad language that made the parents shift uncomfortably, but they never said anything to him about it.  He drank often and encouraged them to do the same.  Sometimes he would light up a cigarette or cigar right in front of them.  He really made it look cool and popular  There were even a few times when he brought drugs.  Beyond all of this, he talked openly about sex.  He would use suggestive, blatant, and descriptive terms.  He told the family it was okay to have sex before marriage and that homosexual relationships were no big deal.  Still though, the parents felt uncomfortable and didn’t want to interrupt him since he had become such a loved part of the family.  Day after day this stranger was bringing these things into the house, but was never rebuked or corrected for his bad influence.

What was this stranger’s name?  This family simply called him…TV.

Nearly every household in America loves this stranger.  99% of all American households have a TV in the home.  “According to the A.C. Nielsen Co., the average American watches more than 4 hours of TV each day (or 28 hours/week, or 2 months of nonstop TV-watching per year).  In a 65-year life, that person will have spent 9 years glued to the tube” (csun.edu).

We would NEVER allow an actual person to come into our homes speaking and acting in such ways.  So why do we allow it to happen through the TV?

Philippians 4:8 says, “Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.”

This applies to every part of our life.  Does our TV watching fit within these guidelines?

My Little Girl

Many a time my family has walked around the streets,

Never really knowing what kind of people we will meet.

We’ve seen people who are busy, sad, and anxious about life,

Even Christians who are filled with worries and strife.

But still, my little girl will jump, and bounce, and sing, and play,

Take my word for it, this is how she is every day.

She walks around with her face aglow,

Being peaceful and happy, not afraid to let it show.

My little girl will talk, smile, and laugh with a stranger,

Clearly not aware of what we view as danger.

These people will light up at her cute little face,

Briefly forgetting their troubles in this place.

How could her attitude be so cheerful?

It’s because she has no real reason to be tearful.

My little girl has not yet learned to play life’s stressful game,

Getting caught up in things that cause us lose our aim.

There are some Scriptures we often repeat

“Unless you become like Children, the Lord you shall not meet.”

“To be great, you must become like a child.”

These are requirements not to be taken so mild.

Learning to be like a child is a great thing to do,

Even when everything in this life looks so blue.

People want to go to heaven, this we know,

To do this we need to let our inner child grow.

Let’s seek to be cheerful and happy, innocent and pure,

Then the troubles of life we will be able to endure.

Let’s be more like children when the winds of life swirl.

What a great lesson to learn from my little girl.

Scripture – Matthew 18:1-4

The Purpose In Life

Josh McDowell told this great story:

An executive hirer, a "headhunter" who goes out and hires corporation executives for other firms, once told me, "When I get an executive that I’m trying to hire for someone else, I like to disarm him.  I offer him a drink, take my coat off, then my vest, undo my tie, throw up my feet and talk about baseball, football, family, whatever, until he's all relaxed.  Then, when I think I've got him relaxed, I lean over, look him square in the eye and say, "What's your purpose in life?"  It's amazing how top executives fall apart at that question.

"Well, I was interviewing this fellow the other day, had him all disarmed, with my feet up on his desk, talking about football.  Then I leaned up and said, 'What's your purpose in life, Bob?'  And he said, without blinking an eye, 'To go to heaven and take as many people with me as I can.'  For the first time in my career I was speechless."

What a great answer!  Clearly, this was something Bob often thought about and actually lived.  Put yourself in this interview for a minute.  What would you have said to this executive headhunter?  Would you have an answer or would you fumble around trying to think about the right thing to say?

Many times we as Christians have been told about the purpose of life.  The problem is, we don’t take it literally.  We may know the right answer, but we don’t actually think it and live it.  Can something really be our purpose in life if we rarely think about it and don’t live it?  Certainly not.

Bob had it right.  Our purpose in this life is to get to heaven (Ecclesiastes 12:13; Matthew 7:21-27; 1 Peter 3:21), and take as many with us as we can (Matthew 28:19-20).  Let’s not just know, but actually LIVE the purpose of this life, “To go to heaven and take as many people with me as I can.”