11 Of whom we have much to say, and hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.
Hebrews 5:11 (NKJV)
By Bro. John L. Cash, “Country Preacher Dad”
A few weeks ago, as Spencer was leaving his shift at the Piggly Wiggly grocery store, he spotted something in the trash bin. It was a tiny television-set-looking-thing, about the size of a navel orange. When he brought it home to show me, I was concerned that it might have been thrown away by accident. After all, why would anyone throw away an electronic device that worked perfectly?
Spencer placed the tiny black box on the kitchen table to demonstrate how it worked. When you walked past it, an electronic sensor made the unit flicker to life, with color video of a Jewish mother calling out to the shopper: “Need a little motherly advice? Push the button.” Upon pressing the button, the recorded salesperson would tell the shopper the virtues of buying a particular brand of tissue, particularly good when a person had a runny nose.
We had a lot of fun with the little video unit and were amazed that anyone would throw such a wonderful little gadget away. But it didn’t take long to figure out why the grocery store had pitched the electronic chatterbox. It wouldn’t shut up!
“Feeling under the weather? Press the button for important product information!”
Susan quickly tired of the thing squawking at her in her kitchen, so I put it in Spencer’s bed when he wasn’t looking. When he came home late one night, the box yelled at him, so he put it in Seth’s room.
In a short time, Seth got tired of the incessant jabbering and put it in the living room. We heard it playing advertisements at night when the cats set it off with their nocturnal prowling.
After another stint on the kitchen table, the little box disappeared altogether. I kind of forgot about it.
Then, a couple of days ago, I was taking out the trash about 5:30 in the morning. When I threw the garbage bag into the dumpster, I was startled by a loud voice shouting from the bottom of the receptacle. “Need some motherly advice? Push the button!” I must confess, I didn’t dig the little box out of the trash. And I didn’t push the button. I was tired of hearing it.
In today’s Scripture lesson (at the top), the Apostle Paul is writing to some people who have grown “dull of hearing.” They thought they had heard the Word of God so many times that they were tired of hearing it! While it may be OK to get tired of hearing the sappy messages of this fallen world, we all have to guard our hearts and minds to be sure that we never get tired of hearing the good news of the Gospel.
Dear mamas, let’s open our hearts to the Lord during this good Christmas season, and ask Him to bless us with a renewed wonder for His Word at this blessed time of year. We quickly get tired of commercials—but may we never get enough of the message of the Christ child!
Dr. John L. Cash is the “Country Preacher Dad” * He was raised in Stuttgart, Arkansas, and is beginning his 25th year of being a country preacher in the piney woods five miles south of the little town of Hickory, Mississippi. He and his lovely wife, Susan, and his sons, Spencer (age 18) and Seth (age 15) live in the parsonage next door to the Antioch Christian Church (where you can tell it doesn’t take much to entertain this family). You should write him at extramailbox@juno.com.
