I suppose it is the time of year. The mailbox has been spewing out six inch high piles of catalogues lately. Usually they wind up in the trash, but I opened up one of the less familiar ones the other day. The prices made it obvious this was for people of means, not folks like us, and so did the items themselves.
A Marshmallow Blaster—a pneumatic gun to shoot marshmallows up to 40 feet, $39.95.
A Touchscreen Portable Video Poker Game--$99.95.
A Balance Board Trainer—helps you improve your balance without having to go to a gym, $479.95.
A Rotating Dual Disco Ball--$59.95.
A Fish-Finding Watch--$139.95.
A Laser-Guided Pool Cue--$79.95.
An Authentic Scottish Practice Chanter—the first step for those who wish to learn to play the bagpipes--$49.95.
Obviously, the people who would want these things are either so wealthy that they truly need nothing, or else bored to death—possibly both.
That’s what happens when you count on this world to make you happy. Solomon did exactly that and came to the conclusion that all things are full of weariness; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. That which hath been is that which shall be; and that which hath been done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun, Eccl 1:8,9, despite what Hammacher Schlemmer comes up with.
Boredom can get to us in every way when things are too easy. We recently sent care packages to Zimbabwe that included powdered Concord grape juice. Evidently grapes are not a native crop over there, and with the drought, rampant inflation, and food shortages, they were having difficulty even fulfilling the obligation to observe the Lord’s Supper on Sunday mornings. At one point, they were reduced to boiling raisins and using the decanted water.
And here some of my brethren sit arguing about whether or not to call it an “act of worship,” how big a piece of bread to break off, whether the bread should contain oil or shortening, whether it can be sweet, and other assorted nitpicky items. Our destitute brethren could teach us a thing or two about how precious this observance should be, precious enough to even think of buying the grape juice instead of food, and certainly not a source of contention.
When things become so easy that our worship to God becomes tedium so that we argue about it to fill the time, remember how it got to be that way—because we are so blessed in the first place. Maybe there is a reason that the last beatitude is Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’s sake. Maybe our blessings would mean a whole lot more to us if they were harder to come by.
For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the Gentiles, says Jehovah of hosts. But you profane it, in that ye say, The table of Jehovah is polluted, and the fruit thereof, even its food, is contemptible. You say also, Behold, what a weariness is it! and you have snuffed at it, says Jehovah of hosts; and ye have brought that which was taken by violence, and the lame, and the sick; thus you bring the offering: should I accept this at your hand? says Jehovah, Mal 1:11-13.
Dene Ward
A Marshmallow Blaster—a pneumatic gun to shoot marshmallows up to 40 feet, $39.95.
A Touchscreen Portable Video Poker Game--$99.95.
A Balance Board Trainer—helps you improve your balance without having to go to a gym, $479.95.
A Rotating Dual Disco Ball--$59.95.
A Fish-Finding Watch--$139.95.
A Laser-Guided Pool Cue--$79.95.
An Authentic Scottish Practice Chanter—the first step for those who wish to learn to play the bagpipes--$49.95.
Obviously, the people who would want these things are either so wealthy that they truly need nothing, or else bored to death—possibly both.
That’s what happens when you count on this world to make you happy. Solomon did exactly that and came to the conclusion that all things are full of weariness; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. That which hath been is that which shall be; and that which hath been done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun, Eccl 1:8,9, despite what Hammacher Schlemmer comes up with.
Boredom can get to us in every way when things are too easy. We recently sent care packages to Zimbabwe that included powdered Concord grape juice. Evidently grapes are not a native crop over there, and with the drought, rampant inflation, and food shortages, they were having difficulty even fulfilling the obligation to observe the Lord’s Supper on Sunday mornings. At one point, they were reduced to boiling raisins and using the decanted water.
And here some of my brethren sit arguing about whether or not to call it an “act of worship,” how big a piece of bread to break off, whether the bread should contain oil or shortening, whether it can be sweet, and other assorted nitpicky items. Our destitute brethren could teach us a thing or two about how precious this observance should be, precious enough to even think of buying the grape juice instead of food, and certainly not a source of contention.
When things become so easy that our worship to God becomes tedium so that we argue about it to fill the time, remember how it got to be that way—because we are so blessed in the first place. Maybe there is a reason that the last beatitude is Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’s sake. Maybe our blessings would mean a whole lot more to us if they were harder to come by.
For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the Gentiles, says Jehovah of hosts. But you profane it, in that ye say, The table of Jehovah is polluted, and the fruit thereof, even its food, is contemptible. You say also, Behold, what a weariness is it! and you have snuffed at it, says Jehovah of hosts; and ye have brought that which was taken by violence, and the lame, and the sick; thus you bring the offering: should I accept this at your hand? says Jehovah, Mal 1:11-13.
Dene Ward
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