What does it mean when they say; "Life is like a bowl full of cherries"? I've often wondered about that! Do you suppose it means life is the pits? Perhaps a bowl of cherries is like the song that says; "don't take it serious, it's so delirious". I think the pits make it easier to relate to? "If life give you lemons, you make lemondade!" That is pretty clear, isn't it? We all have grown up in a world full of phrases and cliches. Some are more trite or hackneyed than others but they become familiar and therefore easy to repeat. Today, one of the popular phrases is; "Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die!" I bet you didn't even realize that was originally said in Isaiah. Also in the book of Luke and in Ecclesiastes.
In the book 'Why You Say It' by Webb Garrison, talks about an English poet, who in the year of 1598 became a chief literary lion of his time. Ben Johnson's last work, 'The Staple of the News', was finished in 1625. By that time he was widely read and quoted. He used a phrase to describe a prejudiced person by referring to him as being narrow-minded. The phrase caught on and today we use that same phrase when it suits our purpose to separate ourselves from those who do not believe the same as we do.
I use to think it was a bad thing to be narrow-minded. In Webster's Dictionary it means illiberal. The word ill may indicate a health issue but it is also used to define something that is not a good thing. I see illiberal as one who is a conservative thinker. Go figure! Another cliche!
I have always been told by my friends, peers and co-workers that I was narrow-minded because I would not participate in some of the social activities that were offered to me. I have never considered myself narrow-minded but when I look at the world and all that is allowed, I have come to realilze, in the worlds view, I am narrow-minded. According to today's worldy thoughts, God is narrow minded also, which makes me feel like I am in good company. I fit in so much better in God's world, so being narrow-minded is not a bad thing.
Today, you are narrow-minded if you are prejudice against another's color, religion, sexual orientation, abortionists and the 'Right to Choose' organizations. When you do not associate with those who are involved in some of these activities, they attach names to you like; homophobe; goody-too-shoes; Jesus freaks. Obviously, these worldy views and lifestyles belong to the liberals and not to the illiberal's or the narrow-minded. Somewhere a line has been drawn! God's word has made it very clear that homosexual activities, whether you are a man or a woman, is an abomination. It never entered God's mind that people in the Old Testament would sacrifice their babies to the god Molech and I am sure it never entered God's mind that today babies would be aborted during the gestation period and even at the time of delivery. A view that the fetus is not a life until born is not a Godly view!
Let's go a little further. Narrow is the opposite of broad! The word strait is used in reference to a narrow, small, confined passage. I think of 'strait' when Jesus is talking in Matthew 7:13-14. "Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter by it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life and few are those who find it". Further down in chapter 7 we find verses 21-23 where it says; "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord', will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord' did we not prophesy in Your name, and in your name cast out demons and in your name perform many miracles? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness." Within the practices of the world we become lawless! Are you narrow-minded? Are you lawless? Think on these things! By Jane Ann Crenshaw 10/25/08
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