This evening I suddenly came to my senses as I realized I was in the midst of doing something really stupid. I called a local pizza parlor to order a medium cheese pizza. The female voice on the other end of the line said, “I’m sorry. We don’t have medium pizzas. We have small, large and extra large. So I said, “Then you mean your large is your medium.” “No,” she said, “Our large is our large. We don’t have a medium.” “But,” I said, “If your large is your middle size than it is your medium.” She then said, “This is a stupid conversation. We do not have a medium!” It was then that I realized I better shut up because you never ever want to antagonize someone who is going to prepare your food. So I quickly said, “Oh, I see. You have no medium.”
Being stupid is something that happens to me with great regularity and I don’t think I am alone. Surely the all time stupidest thing to do is to know about Jesus and just walk away. The rich young man did so in Matthew 19. The Bible says he went away sorrowfully. At least he was smart enough to be sorrowful right away. Most people who walk away don’t catch up to the sorrow until many years later when life falls apart and then they wonder what happened.
No one wants to be miserable. So why don’t they believe Jesus when He said, “I have come that you might have the abundant life.” Jesus doesn’t lie. He means what He says. His way is the abundant way and best of all it is agift. Perhaps the reason is they are watching so many of us who claim to have the gift.
Written by Roger Bothwell on December 24, 2008.
Photo courtesy of Lou Malnati’s.
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