Wanna Make Something Of It?

Lewis Carroll's poem, "Father William", describes a conversation between an old man and his son. The son interrogates the father as to the reason for his uncommon physical vigor. One of his questions concerns his father's ability to eat meat, though at his age, one would think him incapable of chewing it. Consider the reply:

"In my youth," said his father, "I took to the law, and argued each case with my wife; and the muscular strength which it gave to my jaw, has lasted the rest of my life."

Well, if a love of argument strengthens the jaw, I know some people who should be able to bite through steel! Do you know anyone like that? Hmmm.

What does the Bible say about this business of "argument aerobics"? Well, consider the words of Solomon in Proverbs 18:2, "A fool hath no delight in understanding, but that his heart may discover itself." The NIV states this passage of scripture this way, "A fool finds no pleasure in understanding but delights in airing his own opinions." I wonder how often we talk just for the pleasure of hearing ourselves, and how many of us love argument for its own sake? Former NFL Football great Jerry Kramer once said of Dave Robinson, his teammate on the Green Bay Packers, "Robby'll argue any side of any question, just for practice. I once heard him argue for half-an-hour that black-eyed peas are really black-eyed beans. Maybe they are, but who cares?!"

I sometimes think that we Christians have developed a whole subculture of this sort of thing. "Did Adam have a naval?" "Where did Cain get his wife, what with the shortage of computer or on-line dating services?" "How many angels can dance on the head of a pin, or the brain of a Christian who asks questions like that, both of which are about the same size?"

Someone has said that people will not care about how much we know (or think that we know) until they know how much we care. So, give it a rest. Focus on the big issues of being conformed to the image of Christ (Rom. 8:28, 29) and leading others to know Him (Matt. 4:19; Mark 16:15)! Don't love to argue; drop the modifier and just learn to love (Matt. 22:36-39).

"Wanna Make Something Of It?"
Pastor David Blevins