JULY 18, 2005

ARE YOU PUFFED UP?
By Pastor George Van Alstine

My friend Jill Boekenoogen was browsing books in Amazon.com, and she came across my name. They listed my 1982 book The Christian and the Public Schools. Jill was surprised to find that it was on the best seller list—at number 2,651,991! Jill couldn’t wait to e-mail me this important information. Graciously, she added that she was jealous because none of her books had ever been published.

This dramatizes the human dilemma. We struggle mightily with all our energy and all our talents. Stretching on our tip-toes, we might reach number 2,651,991. Just a blip near the bottom of the scale, but at least our existence registers.

The Bible has a way of humbling a person even more profoundly than Amazon.com:
“To whom will you liken God? . . . . It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers.” (Isaiah 40:18, 22)

“Even the nations are like a drop in a bucket.” (vs 15)

“As for mortals, their days are like grass; they flourish like a flower of the field, for the wind passes over it, and it is gone.” (Psalm 103:15-16)

“What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” (James 4:14)

The Apostle Paul warned us not to get “puffed up” (1 Corinthians 4:6) with our own press notices. He wrote:
“By the grace given to me I say to every one among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment.” (Romans 12:3)

I may think of myself as someone who has had a book published, but “sober judgment” reminds me that I’m number 2,651,991 on the best seller list. That’s kind of funny!

Actually, from the Biblical perspective, in the context of God’s created universe and eternal plan, even number one on the best seller list is a grasshopper—a bigger grasshopper than me, but still a tiny insect in significance.

Yet, after putting us in our place, Paul gave us a profound insight into how our lives can have true meaning:
“[Do not] think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but think with sober judgment according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.”
He then described how in the fellowship of believers we can find our niche of worship and service that can have true eternal value. This is perceived and accomplished only through a life of faith. An individual may be only number 2,651,991, but that nugget of significance is eternally blessed by God.

Each person’s life should have this label as a reminder:

Puffed up?
Let the hot air out.
Re-inflate with faith.

Thanks, Jill, for keeping me from being “puffed up.” But in the future stick to books; you’re dangerous on a computer.