The Couch Potato And The Athlete
In this Modern Age our time is demanded of us by every conceivable distraction. It just isn't fair, is it.
Up until the middle of the last century (1950), and still in some areas of this country, and in many others countries, time was available for the important things.
Fields had to be plowed by hand, cows had to be milked, water had to be carried in from a well (not to mention the outhouse in winter).
Wherever a person traveled, which was often long distances, like town or school, they had to walk unless they had a horse or camel.
If you wanted a fire in order to keep warm or to cook a meal, you had to cut down a tree and chop it into firewood.
Clothes had to be washed by hand, and very often made by hand as well. No refrigeration or dishwasher or vacuum cleaner was available, only a bucket, a brush, and maybe a cellar in which to keep food a little cool.
And the list goes on.
But these people still took time to eat together, sing together, and help one another out when there was a need. They sat around the fire and told stories, played table games and shared their lives with one another.
People made it a point to read the Bible and attend church (where churches were far away and had to be reached by buggy or foot, and Bibles were expensive).
People found time at a time when time was dear and hard to find.
Today we have every conceivable convenience - yet we have no time.
Time is taken up with needful things like sports, the Rose Bowl, the bar and parties, hanging out at the mall, and other such necessities of life.
And should a moment or two be found, it is absorbed with important things like TV, the news, or the computer.
Very little time is left for such luxuries as Family, Spouse and Children and the things we all know that if there was time to be found, we would certainly spend it with those we "love."
**snipped**
All of that sounds wonderful - to the carnal mind. It pleases us to be told we can get the most for doing the least. (Come to think of it; isn't that the same philosophy con artists use to get what they want from greedy people?)
Earlier we made a list of priorities for our time. First on the list, of course, were things that satisfy our desires, make us happy, messages our Ego.
Next come those things that relaxes us, that prepares us for our next day of work and eating and drinking and making merry.
Then come those things that we would like to do, if only there were more hours in the day; that is - family.
And lastly, the things we probably should do, that is, they seem important, but the preacher doesn't stress them too much, and besides, who really cares or notices if we do them anyway.
After all, don't you usually snap off a quick prayer (once in a while) at mealtime; and go to church, when there isn't a good game on TV or if the weather isn't too good, or too bad, or if there is weather at all?
After all, what more could God expect of such a fine person as yourself?
**snipped**
In this day of Reason and High Intellect there is no reason to listen to God - after all, who does He thing He is? God?
We can just continue to lay on our sofa, watch church on TV, and read books telling us how wonderful we are just as we are, and how we can have anything we want, just by investing in those books and TV programs.
**snipped**
[ If it seems as if the life has been clipped out of this article: it has. To read the article in it's entirety, it is available in First Trump, the Bible section of this website.]
Tumbleweed
