Living Lesson - Spoons and Ice Cream

Living Lessons: Spoons

By: Christopher Wiles

(Church bulletin article for Sunday, Aug 9th, 2014 at WCOC)

     Wednesday marked our third year at Washington Church of Christ.  We were excited and as a result several of our church family joined us at Mason's Root Beer Stand to celebrate.  

     I love a good root beer float as do the rest of you (unless your name is Donna Keller), but something felt weird as soon as I put that rooty creamy spoon in my mouth.  It was distracting.  It was awkward.  Then I began to analyze.  The taste was delightful.   The texture of the ice cream was smooth and soft.  The tickle of the carbonation was just right.  Then what was the source of my distraction?

     It was the SPOON.  A round plastic head with a long thin handle, it looked like just another spoon.  Yet upon entry into my cavernous ice cream eating mouth, you could tell immediately something wasn't right, and I was distracted from my ice cream eating celebration.  On further inspection I realized the head was too small for the concavity of the sides of this spoon.  It didn't fit the natural curvature of the tongue or the lips and was a little challenge to get that sweet delectable vanilla removed.  The spoon just wasn't a good fit for the adult mouth and I ditched it to just "drink" the ice cream instead.  

     That makes me think about us as a church.  What types of things does Satan try to put in our mouths that just don't fit properly?  What methods & actions have been spoon fed to us that weren't designed for the church?  For instance, people will tell you that God honors love in a marriage, so they'll try to get you to take love in a spoon that just doesn't fit God's Word, like homosexual "marriage" or polygamy.  Or how about the common trend pushed by some cultural religious leaders that drinking alcohol and the often resulting drunkenness are acceptable forms of building church fellowship and friends.   What about those that promote professional sporting events as God's desirable form of building unity with others instead of the examples of weekly communion remembering Him?  God likes love, fellowship, friendship, and unity, but some of our current spoons to enjoy them weren't designed by Him nor do they well fit us, even if we like what's in them.  

     I wonder if sometimes we are using improperly fitted utensils to get at the goodness God has promised for His faithful followers, because that's just what our culture is giving us.  In all things, may we analyze all methods, programs, actions and ideologies to see if they are a proper fit with God's word.  Use the ones that fit the Bible and we'll never be distracted from His goodness. Next time you go to Mason's, just ask for no spoons and enjoy the good stuff. 

"Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world." - 1 John 4:1