Are We Serious?

People are interesting creatures. Note, I said creatures, not animals. Though we may share many traits with animals, God created us as the crown of His creation. Animals don’t write or read newsletters, let alone agree/disagree with what the author has to say.

And people are interesting. Even the person who does nothing but sit in front of a TV and drink beer, that person is interesting, perhaps not so much for what he does, but for what, and why, he doesn’t do anything else. There has to be something interesting with regard to such lack of motivation or drive.

People are interesting in that they pursue such a wide variety of pursuits. They become experts on very narrow subjects, discovering truths that the rest of us didn’t even know existed. And since this world is God’s world, it is deeply interesting, and so these pursuits are worthwhile.

Jonathan Edwards, the great American theologian and preacher of the 1700’s, wrote an article as a young man about spiders. He was a student, not only of God’s Word, but also of God’s creation. As many are able to discern the glory of God in the grand scope of creation, he was able to see the glory of God in the details of creation. We all would do well to notice such things.

But there are some that I’m not sure are so interesting. I receive a news email, and in one part, they list the things that they are paying attention to, and then they list a couple of things that they are specifically not paying attention to. Why? Because they decide it’s not worth their time. I think I agree. Along with carefully choosing our pursuits, perhaps we should also carefully consider some things that we are not going to pursue.

Three times in the pastoral epistles, Paul mentions to Timothy and Titus what they are to avoid. It seems that he is seriously advising them to purposely avoid these pursuits:

• avoiding worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called “knowledge” - 1Tim. 6:20
• avoid worldly and empty chatter - 2Tim. 2:16
• avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and strife and disputes about the Law - Titus 3:9

So, as the crown of creation, do you think we might be able to figure out what contemporary pursuits would fit these descriptions, and then seriously avoid them?