Childish Fun

Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he. {perish: or, is made naked} (Proverbs 29:18)

I was thinking about children and fun. And about youth and danger.

A child has no concept of repercussions. A youth has no clear concept of responsibility.

That, incidentally, is not because they are foolish or wicked.

Those things come with experience. They come from burning one’s fingers (or seeing them burnt) many times.

A child will throw a stone to a crowd to observe the resulting chaos.

A child could easily set a bush alight to observe its ‘blaze’. A child can break a chicken’s leg to learn to be a surgeon.

That is why no parent will buy their child a single toy. Because it will be in pieces in a very short time, however expensive it was.

Those risks and dangers are the way a child learns.

The wise parent is the one who will guide his children to avoid danger in their experimentation, since that is what their adventures simply are.

An adult has seen and experienced enough hurt and damage as to be in a position to know how to avoid it again.

That is the meaning of that verse.

But it is not about age and experience that the verse is talking about.

It is speaking about spiritual vision.

How far can you see in the spiritual?

A radar depends on the reflection of the signals it sends all around and their interpretation.

If one can diffuse instead of reflect those signals, that radar would be completely blind. If someone could be stationary or move in very low speeds, the radar would also be completely blind since it is only trained to see an object moving beyond a particular speed.

Why do we not place metal containers in microwave ovens?

They will disperse instead of absolve the energy. Meaning that whatever will be in that container will never benefit from the radiation.

Before I went off grid, I loved using the induction cooker since its energy consumption was very good despite its other challenges.

But it never recognised anything that was not magnetic, even some steel.

I used to carry a magnet when I would look for sufurias and pans for that reason.

Of course, you know that a bat can comfortably speed through the night in total darkness because it was created to use something other than eyes to see.

I am sure some are getting confused

You can only see what you have been trained to see. You can only use the tools you have to accomplish your assignment.

Though a radar can see something very far very accurately, it will be completely blind to something next to it if it is not moving the way radar has been trained to see.

Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. (Psalm119:18)

That is the vision I am talking about.

Lack of that vision is the reason people perish.

On the natural, you can only use the lens of your experience. Meaning that you have nothing beyond your experience to guide you.

As you grow, however, you are able to access some other experience apart from yours to guide you.

Being called a village bumpkin is an insult because of what it implies; you have never ventured beyond your village.

But it farther implies that you have no other interaction with anybody or anything outside your village; meaning that your experience is very narrow indeed.

Though you may be an expert in village affairs, you will be completely at a loss if something different from that experience is introduced.

We love and laugh at children because we appreciate their limited experience.

We fear for and stress about our youth because we not only know the power they possess, but because we know the dangers they are plunging themselves into through their ignorance.

Allow me, however, to get us to another dimension.

It is important for us to realise that there is another dimension that we are always wont to overlook.

It is the spiritual dimension.

A wizened old man well versed in the world is a complete village bumpkin in the spiritual.

And it is because he is completely blind to spiritual things.

But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. (1Corinthians 2:14)

He can only see things from the earthly perspective. No wonder he calls spiritual things foolish. They are simply out of his vision.

But the spiritual man has a wider vision because he can see the natural with a spiritual lens.

He not only can accurately see the natural with that eye, he can see it better because he can place it in the frame of an eternal perspective.

We talk about winning a battle and losing a war. What does it mean?

It simply means that the overall winner will allow the loser to gain a few wins so that he can then open himself up to a complete rout.

A board game master (checkers, chess) will consistently offer trophies as baits so that the competitor, in devouring those trophies, will forget to cover his bases.

By the time he realises, or even as he is celebrating all that victory, the master may just need a single move to completely take the game.

Remember the Ai and Benjamite war scenarios?

That is exactly what happened.

They were deceived by their victories that they left their cities completely exposed.

By the time they realised what had happened, they had nowhere to run.

My grandmother told me of a similar battle in the distant past when the only sport that pitted a tribe against another was taking flocks and herds from each other.

An opposing army was seen approaching from very far because this other one was on a hill.

They therefore quickly slaughtered a bull or two and started roasting them.

By the time the opposing army had approached, the meat was ready to eat.

Then the resident army hid around the grounds.

The invading army was perplexed. Yet they could not resist the aroma of such a feast.

Since they could not see anybody around, they concluded that the army had seen them and scattered.

They therefore sat down to the feast of their lives, of course separating with their weapons.

It was at that time that the resident army appeared, completely obliterating them.

Natural sight is limited to the here and now because it has no view of anything beyond death.

That is why this life so encompasses us to the point that we are devastated should anything threaten this life.

That is why people commit suicide when there is a huge fall in their fortunes.

Then you hear someone laughing at a teenager committing suicide because their crush broke their heart or their failing their exams!

But that is the far they can see.

How different is that youth to a magnate taking his life because his investments have evaporated after an economic bubble bursts?

Spiritual vision sees beyond this life. It is an eternal vision.

Only spiritual vision understands sin and can accurately see the cancer it is to our eternity.

Only spiritual vision appreciates persecution and its benefits to the world.

Without spiritual vision, this world is all there is. Without spiritual vision, the grave is the conclusion of the matter.

Only spiritual vision can place restraints on this life. Only spiritual vision can show me the boundaries God has placed on my life.

Otherwise, pleasure is the ultimate pursuit.

But it is a spiritual vision guided by the author of eternity.

It is a spiritual vision guided by His revelation.

This is because there is a counter spiritual vision guided by counterfeit spirituality.

This is where taboos and curses find their power.

They thrive in fear and not obedience. They are driven by ignorance instead of revelation.

True spiritual vision is guided by the word of God, the Bible.

Yet people would rather avoid the Bible than seek to get that vision.

Lack of that vision makes us do some very illogical things.

Allow me to get into current affairs to demonstrate it.

Some twenty odd years ago, no American could have imagined a Muslim holding a position in a kindergarten after they had brought down the twin towers among other terror.

Yet they have just elected a Muslim to be the mayor of the epicentre of that atrocity. And that Muslim is also a recent immigrant as those terrorists were.

It is an earthly vision that will disconnect someone’s faith from their conduct.

I don’t care what you believe as long as you can soothe my ego, seems to be the guiding principle.

I do not know this mayor and so have nothing against him.

I just want us to appreciate the fact that the lack of a spiritual/ eternal vision amkes one lead a very fluid life.

You just need to create an enemy to have a murderer leading you since he is the most brutal.

I was recently listening to an article about Clinton’s impeachment debacle and this came out clearly

He was able to ‘overcome’ because many people did not care what he did in private, even if that private happened in the white house.

But a spiritual and eternal vision operates differently.

That is why the qualifications for a church elder are very high though for most it is a very humdrum position.

I am simply saying that the lack of spiritual vision is childish because it is very short term, the farthest it can go being the grave.

Yet there is an eternity to deal with, an eternity whose rules and rewards are determined by God. The same God who issued the rules to live by.

Will we choose to operate by God’s vision or are we content to live for the here and now?