How do you feel about Halloween? Ray Comfort’s family was horrified by the holiday when they arrived in the United States, but then they learned to use it for the gospel!
May 22, 2024
The Bible tells us that there are seven things that God hates:
A proud look,
A lying tongue,
Hands that shed innocent blood,A heart that devises wicked plans,
Feet that are swift in running to evil,A false witness who speaks lies,
And one who sows discord among brethren. (Proverbs 6:17-19)
Even though the things that God hates are moral, His list provoked me to share my nothing-to-do-with-morals list.
Perhaps number one is the stressful sound of a loud leaf blower. This sound is extra annoying because most of the time the gardener isn’t using the device for what it was intended. It is supposed to be a leaf blower. Not a dirt-relocation machine.
“Every year evil becomes more and more evident. Albert Einstein put his finger on the problem when he said, “It is easier to denature plutonium than to denature the evil spirit in man.”
Think of a gardener who is using a leaf blower to gather a million leaves in an isolated country estate. He legitimately uses it to blow the leaves into a pile before removing them to a compost bin.
In contrast, the suburban gardener uses his machine to remove dust and dirt from your driveway. Rather than use a vacuum or a broom to sweep it up and put it in a bin for removal, he moves it by blowing it into the street. And your neighbor’s gardener does the same thing with your neighbor’s dust and dirt. This futile exercise happens each week, and it happens all over the country. Dirt just gets relocated.
Everywhere we look in secular society, there is dirt, and the world does what the gardener does. Corruption is never removed. Every year evil becomes more and more evident. Albert Einstein put his finger on the problem when he said, “It is easier to denature plutonium than to denature the evil spirit in man.”
However, the gospel of Jesus Christ has the power to remove the dirt as far as the east is from the west. It stops the never-ending cycle of evil. It goes to the heart of the evil spirit in man and causes us to love righteousness.
Alongside the leaf blower is the annoying car alarm that goes off at the drop of a hat.
Then there is the annoyance of passwords that we are required to create in order to protect what is already ours. That moves higher onto the list when we’re told that our familiar password is incorrect. So, we need to create a new password, and to do so we have to prove something we already know—that we’re not a robot. We’re asked to perform kindergarten tasks and say how many cats, cars, or elephant legs are in a set of tiny pictures.
Then there are the incessant spam calls, the snail-slow internet connections, the never-ending pop-ups that have invisible delete buttons, the updates that take an eternity, and the frustration of trying to get an intelligible human on the phone when you just have one simple question.
So, there you have it. I feel better. My list is: leaf-blowers, car alarms, internet connections, spam calls, pop-ups, and robotic phone operators. But that’s just six, which is annoying.
Here, now, is something that is part of modern life but doesn’t make the list. When I ask Siri how I can get to Heaven, she replies, “I’m not sure I understand.” When I ask a second time, she says, “Interesting question.” That’s an interesting answer because it’s a great way to start an interesting conversation with an unsaved friend or stranger. Have them ask, “Hey, Siri, how can I get to Heaven?” twice into their phone, and then ask what they think is the correct answer. From there, you can tell them what the Bible says. That will give you a joy that will help you get through the day’s annoyances.
If you are fascinated by annoyances, you may like 101 Things Husbands Do to Annoy Their Wives and 101 Things Dogs Do to Annoy Their Owners. Both books contain the gospel and are a perfect gift for the unsaved.
SHARE THIS
Related Content
