TELLING THE TIME
Sue and I bought a $200 clock that was on sale for $35. It was on a display among many others that looked similar in size and style, and they were all being sold for around $200; but for some reason, this particular clock was only $35. The owner of the store assured us that the clock worked fine and would have a full warranty. We were puzzled … until we inspected it closely and realized why it was so cheap. Can you tell me why? Here’s the picture:
We bought the clock and took it home, because we like how it fits into our décor. And we have had fun asking people what was wrong with it. We have never had anyone see why it was so cheap!
Here’s the thing: We look at the clock, and because the one and the two and the three are correct, we ASSUME that all of the rest of the numbers are printed correctly. Why wouldn’t they be?
But the truth is, the 4 on the clock is not in Roman numerals at all. It should read “IV,” but instead it reads “IIII.” That is not a Roman numeral! But because the first three are correct, we fail to notice that the next one is not.
We make the same mistake in many areas of life. Whenever Jehovah’s Witnesses would come to our house, they brought books that seem TOTALLY biblical. Chapters one and two (and maybe even three) appeared to be just like we would write! But we used a little trick. When they handed us the books, we turned immediately to the last couple of chapters. Why? Because the insidious twisting of the Bible is immediately obvious at the back of the book!
When they realized that we were going to do that every time, they wrote the word “profane” in their record book next to our address, and after that every one of them would skip our houses!
What had we done to earn that title? We had refused to be fooled by the initial presentation of their doctrine, and we examined closely the part that was not biblical. This is why the Bible says that we need to examine life and doctrine CLOSELY!
If the wolf came in wolf’s clothing, who would let him in? No one! That’s why they ALWAYS come in sheep’s clothing.
Not only that, there are times when someone who genuinely loves the Lord and believes in Him gets duped into being a mouthpiece for the enemy!
“Get behind me, Satan. You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of man…” Jesus said to Peter. Because Peter was focused on EARTHLY priorities instead of heavenly priorities, he could be lured into fighting against the very thing that God wanted to be done.
“GET BEHIND ME” comes from the same Greek root as when the Lord told Peter to follow Him!
When Jesus commanded Peter to “come around behind” Him, it was not an invitation to take an advantageous position to stab Jesus in the back. That phrase means, in effect, “return to following, instead of trying to lead.”
We must work hard to examine our lives and doctrines closely because if we don’t, we may find ourselves trying to get Jesus to follow our point of view instead of us following His!
Let’s go back to my clock for a moment. In researching this strange clock, I wondered if others changed the “IV” as well. Here’s what I found out: students of HOROLOGY (the art of making clocks and watches) believe that clock and watch makers decided that it LOOKED more balanced when you saw it on the clock face opposite the VIII.
In other words, those clock makers decided that it was more important for the clock to LOOK right than to actually BE right!
They counted on the fact that people wouldn’t really notice that they made up a number never found in ACTUAL Roman Numerals since it “LOOKED” right. And to them, it had an APPEARANCE that was more pleasing, so phooey on if it was actually correct or not.
This we can be tempted to do also.
Sometimes our flesh says, “Let’s just make it LOOK right, instead of making sure that it IS right.”
That might not matter much when it comes to how the clock on your wall looks. But our standing for truth (as God reveals it) is INFINITELY more important. Yet people ask …
“How will we LOOK if we do the right thing?”
“Isn’t it better to just compromise a little bit to save how we LOOK to the community?
“They’ll call us UNLOVING if we don’t give a nod to the LGBTQ lifestyle.”
“We’ll LOOK bad if we take a strong stand against ‘reproductive rights.’”
“We’ll get murdered in the press if we ever say, ‘Actually, that is wrong!’”
But diluting our biblical standards doesn’t protect them; it destroys them. Jesus said that salt that has lost its saltiness is not good for anything but to be thrown out.
Dr. Tony Evans has a new book out entitled DIVINE DISRUPTION. I strongly recommend it, and I would like to wrap up with his words.
There are two answers to every question: God’s answer and everybody else’s. And everybody else is wrong. God has spoken, and He does not stutter. His Word is perfection, ever relevant, speaking to all issues, for all of life.
God defines marriage. God defines gender. God defines identity. God defines what it means to be parents and how children should respond. God defines religion and how the church operates. He creates and defines governments and how they should be run. He has spoken on how the citizens of a nation are supposed to act. God defines sexuality. We don’t. When we start to redefine seminal issues like these, chaos will ensue.
In creating our own rules and parameters, we insult God. When… the pulpits allow society to vote on what God has said, we do not conform to God’s standard. We only make people comfortable with their own standards.
God speaks to the issues of righteousness and justice and how to handle the poor, pursue equity, and stabilize economic structures and personal finances…
God’s Word must become the current standard by which all issues are addressed, by which all people must conform, and by which all systems must be adjusted. No matter how high or how low, regardless of political, social, or economic position, the (preacher) must never kowtow to the culture. The leader must speak with spiritual authority and Holy Ghost power.”
Amen! May the Lord’s kingdom come, and may His will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
“Pay close attention to your life and to your teaching. Persevere in these things, for by so doing you will save both yourself and those who hear you!” —1 Timothy 4:16, Christian Standard Bible
© May 2022, Rev. Steven R. Jones