The "Scope" of Things

In a dimly-lit bathroom my dad reaches for the mouthwash.
They pour a capful and then lean back. They pour the green liquid into their mouth. Then it hits....the taste of soap. The mouthful of bubbles. Yeeeaaahhh!
What happened? Well, I'll tell you. Prell happened. The shampoo looked like mouthwash.

Finally getting time for herself, my mom gets ready for church. She reaches for the brown can of Adorn hairspray and sprays a mighty coating to shellac the be-jinkies out of limp hair days. But instead of a stiff helmet...she has now deodorized her entire head with Right Gaurd spray deodorant.

In a Dunkin' Donuts coffee shop, a cute little waitress pours salt...intentionally...into a construction worker's coffee instead of sugar...and watches...and waits for the hilarious result.

What does all this have to with each other? When we inadvertantly reach for the wrong thing...we get bad results.

To get right results in our spirit life we must reach for the genuine article or we will end up let down with a bad taste in our mouth and surrounded by the smell of failure and confusion.

I remember when I made a fake cat turd from play-doh and instant oatmeal. I placed it in the middle of the floor to trick my husband for April Fool's day. It was supposed to be funny. The cat didn't think so when he rubbed her nose in the artful faux turd scaring her and confusing her. Again, wrong thing, wrong result.

I know two guys , very well I might add,who were camping in a cabin. One guy was scared to death of the woods and bears. Rather than walk 30 paces to the toilet building, he peed into the other guys half-empty Arizona green tea bottle. Now why he didn't use his own on his side is still a mystery, but again...bad result. In the morning when the very thirsty young man took a swig of his pee-tea and spewed it all over, then beat the tar out of the other guy...chaos again reigned supreme.

The little boy hurt his knee and wanted to wash it himself andget his own band-aid. His mom was serving tea and cake for the pastor. The little boy came out to show his mom the bang-up job he did on bandaging his knee. He had taken a rather large-sized super-maxi pad and put it over his knee and used smaller band aids to anchor it in place. The mother snatched the pad off and and hastily re-bandaged the boy's knee. Again, wrong article, hilarious result.

The tired mechanic came home covered in sweat. He grabbed the first bottle of liquid he saw in the kitchen and taking the cap off, he drank fast and furiously the entire contents of the water bottle. But it wasn't water. It was part water with Miracle-Gro liquid fertilizer. When his wife saw and turned pale, she called the poison control and asked what to do if her husband drank the diluted Miracle-Gro. She was told,"Don't worry, he'll be fine. He might just grow a bit." The laughter of other receptionists in the background was heard.

If we put our trust in the wrong article, even by carelessness, we put ourselves at risk. Sometimes seriously, sometimes a funny episode. But why risk it? Put your trust in Jesus, the true Son of God. He never fails, he always delivers a right result, and you'll never end up feeling ill, ashamed , or stupid from following his words instead of someone else's interpretetation of the truth.


Timothy 4:1The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons

John 1:9That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

by Kimarie Manhart-Freeman