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Very Superstitious…
To break a mirror means 7 years of bad luck. Have you ever done this and gasped, “Ah, man, now God is going to punish me for 7 years straight – Probably not, because you know that this “old wives’ tale” is really not true. But at one time people actually believed in these silly things. There were literally “foolish women” that spread stories around that people took as truth. This is why Paul is warning Timothy to NOT give himself to these kinds of things… “HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THEM…”
Today, superstition doesn’t really phase us. We simply get a good laugh when we are reminded of an “old wives’ tale” when we open an umbrella inside or step on a crack. However, there are so many distracting things around us that easily suck us in and claim our attention.
Earlier in the chapter, Paul was warning against deceptive teaching and hypocritical liars who were promoting old traditions (old wives’ tales). Perhaps this rings a bell. We are just as susceptible to silly “old wives’ tales” today as they were in the first century. There is plenty of mistruth in our churches today that we can give our attention to and be distracted by without even realizing it is evil. But just as Paul warned Timothy to stay away from these myths of his day, we need to stay away from the distractions in our own day that would keep us from the Word and from diligently studying God’s truth (the Bible) to find what God would have us do… and I think it’s stated clearly… “train yourself to be godly.”
Kacy, thank you for your perspective, and your title which is going to cause me to be singing “Superstitious” in my head for the rest of the day.
The fact is that the writing is not on the wall, but in the word. Training ourselves to be Godly can not happen without strengthening our knowledge of our Father, through his Word. The Bible is a mysterious book, but it is not superstitious. It seems to often it is treated in the same catagory as a rabbits foot, or an old wives fable.
There are far to many “spiritual” people, and not enough Godly people.
Kacy, I too am singing the old song in my head. It is amazing, the power of some songs or even phrases have in our lives. In my twenties I had the privialge of taking a course that took traditions and measured then against the plumb line of God’s word. Part of my growing up was to evaluate what was taught me and look at what God said about the situation and decide what traditions to keep in my life. Questions about life style, music, work, and rest were examined in the class. Sometimes today I do things just because I have always done them that way instead of asking what would Jesus do. When I don’t ask or stop and think about why, that is when I am spiritual not Godly. For me it boils down to I want a world view built on God’s word not traditions or superstitions.
Distracting things….they definitely suck us in and claim our attention! So many times I have started down a path of thought or action, based on a view held by society or a social norm only to stop and ask myself, ‘how did i get here?’ Had I been focused on ‘training to be godly’, I would have never gotten as far down that road as I did. I have to tell myself (like Cher said in Moonlighting): “Snap out of it!!”
I like using cultural icons like Stevie Wonder and Cher to point me to Jesus… (thanks Kacy and Nicole!).
And what is the best training. Is it Bible study? Is it a class… another sermon? Meeting in a living room for community group? Of course, I think all of these things are good, but I wonder if SERVING is the best laboratory or training ground. It seems without serving, we fail to get hungry. We develop spiritual obesity. BUT… when I see people serve, I see growth and hunger. When people serve, they tend to go running for more Bible, a good class, a practical sermon, or a community group. Without serving, few sign up for a class or get excited about another expository sermon.
Paul said in Eph. 4, that the body is built up when we serve. Serving is “where the rubber meets the road” so that “old wives tales” can be relegated to myth and superstitions — so that we can stop living by cliches’ and start living by faith.
KACY… YOU are awesome. Glad you’re on the team!
Stevie Wonder? I thought your were referencing the Willie Dixon song!! Well, you live and you learn.
http://www.lyricstime.com/willie-dixon-i-ain-t-superstitious-lyrics.html
Jon
Training, training….What’s all this talk about training got to do with anything? You would think we are talking about running a marathon or something. Why can’t I just be a couch potato, do things my way and just rely on His grace and mercy to get me a good seat in heaven? Isn’t there a bible verse that says something like the first will be last and the last will be first?
Hmmm…….. Now that I think about it, I remember a big chunk of my life when I lived it totally my way. I remember not wanting to run the race of this life anymore. I remember being so tired of stumbling over and over again as I ran through the obstacles of this broken world. Maybe this training would be good to help prevent that or at least to help me avoid some of the obstacles. Maybe it will help me prepare for life everlasting because that will be for a very long time……..
Thank you, Kacy, for bringing us face to face with the reality that we must train ourselves to be Godly.
Today God is convicting me on the foolishness of my pride. Like the foolishness of following old wives tales and godless myths, pride is a tool of Satan. The balance between healthy self-esteem and being “puffed up” – “thinking more of myself than I ought” – is tough for me. I have a tendency to be haughty especially when my work or motives are being questioned. I justify myself because of my experiences and long life – even serving in the Church! How foolish! I AM responsible, with God’s help, to train myself TO ACT as I should.
Thanks Kacy. I’m with Herb, but at least you got “Superstitious” to move ahead of “Girl from Ipanema” as #1 tune in my head. Who needs Muzak?
We don’t run into superstition much in our circle and its at least frowned upon by our culture, but with Baals available to order online and at stores in Little Five Points, while people search out the power of crystals, and to understand their personal chakras, I think we’ll have more of it to deal with. I think I could make a case that for most people, playing the lottery feeds on superstition about “luck” – but I really don’t want to argue.
Problem is that in our agnostic, pluralistic, “inclusive” society, following Jesus and studying our Bibles are viewed by many as supersitious. We need to make sure our lives and words demonstrate the power of Christ. Like Kacy said, there’s plenty of bad teaching and doctrine, but you can’t identify it if you don’t know what sound doctrine is.
The main thing is walking with Jesus daily, praying, studying, being filled with God’s Spririt and not filling our minds with fakes – training ourselves to be godly. Amen to what everyone has written above, especially to what God gave us through Paul in this verse.
Thanks Kacy and I will not bring the black cat to the office on Monday.
To train is to to grow. To train is to to be alert to false stories. It is so important to be in a training regiment for our spiritual growth and protection.