Preacher’s Point: Are you like the woman on the bench?

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An older man taking a walk through the park decides to have a seat on a bench near the playground; there is already a young woman sitting at one end. Thinking he would start up some conversation, he says, “Lovely day. The sky is such a beautiful blue.”

“Yes it is a beautiful day, but the sky is yellow.”

“What?”

“The sky is yellow.”

“I’m sorry, but do you suffer from some color blindness?”

“Oh no! I’m not colorblind at all.” The woman says with a chuckle.

“But Miss the sky is blue.”

“I believe the sky is yellow, so therefore the sky is yellow.”

The man, not sure what to say next, decides to change the subject, “Is one of these kids out here yours?”

“Yes! The little boy playing in the sand by the slide; the one in the red shirt.”

The shirt was indeed red, but the man had to fight off the urge to see what she would say if he told her he believed the shirt was green.

About this time the little boy got up and started running toward the bench, “Mommy! Mommy!”

Greeting him with a hug and a smile, mom told him he only had five minutes left to play; it was time to go home.

“But it’s so nice outside. I want to stay and play.”

“Yes, Charlie, it is nice outside, but there are things we must do. Five more minutes.”

“I wanna stay outside. The brown sky is so pretty and nice.”

“Four more minutes, you better go play, you don’t have much time.”

With that, the boy ran back toward the slide, and the old man had to say something, “Your son seems to think the sky is brown. Do you ever tell him the sky is blue?”

“Of course not! He’s going to grow up some day, and he needs to know how to make his own decisions. He has to make his own choices. If he believes the sky is brown, then it is brown.”

“Have you ever had him tested for colorblindness?”

The woman gave the man an odd look, and nothing further was said between them.

If the above story seems weird, odd, strange, bizarre, crazy, off-the-wall, that is good because that is what I am hoping you are thinking right now.

Honestly, if you thought the sky was yellow or brown instead of blue, it really would not make any difference in your life. Oh, you might get into a discussion from time to time about your views of the sky, but overall life would not be any different.

The problem is, however, although what we call the color of the heavens may be insignificant, the One who made the sky is anything but insignificant.

Sadly, many people come to conclusions about God the same way the woman came to her understandings about the sky – she chose her belief about the sky without any input from the truth (John 17:17). I want to believe the sky is yellow, so I will.

Maybe even worse yet; her son believed what he believed about the sky without any input from her. When it comes to our children, God says, “And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.”

It sounds as if God wants us to know His Word and to teach the truth of His Word to our children at all times and with the utmost urgency. Yes, ultimately the choices our children make about God will be theirs and theirs alone to make, yet, it is our responsibility as parents to guide them into the truth (Proverbs 22:6).

When it comes to colors, I am sure you did what I did with my children. We would point to things and say, “Red ball, blue car, black dog.” As they would start to name colors if they made a mistake we would correct them, “The sky is blue, not yellow.”

Why is it that parents will correct their children when it comes to a color, yet when it comes to the most important person in the universe many have an attitude like the woman on the bench? – “Of course not! He’s going to grow up some day, and he needs to know how to make his own decisions. He has to make his own choices.”

The sky is blue regardless of what we call it; God is still God regardless of what we think. The former is insignificant; the latter; well, everything including eternity rides on it.

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By Timothy Johnson

Preacher’s Point

Preacher Johnson is Pastor of Countryside Baptist Church in Parke County Indiana. Email: [email protected]. Website: www.preacherjohnson.com. E-book: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00TUJTV2A If you email, inform me where you have seen Preacher’s Point. Viewpoints expressed in the article are the work of the author. The Daily Advocate does not endorse these viewpoints or the independent activities of the author.

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