Living Dangerously -- FPC sermon excerpt
Supergluing your fingers together. Smashing a penny on a railroad track. Burning stuff with a magnifying glass.
Not particularly constructive activities … but fun.
Especially if you are a kid. If you are a child, or if you have ever been a child, you know what I am talking about.
According to a new book, these are three of the fifty dangerous things that parents should let their children do. The title of the book? Not surprisingly, it is Fifty Dangerous Things (You Should Let Your Children Do). In response to the overprotective style of parenting that seems to dominate our culture today, the authors are urging moms, dads, and kids to live dangerously!
Go ahead: Lick a battery! It will teach you about shock and electric currents.
The dangerous activities in this book are not deadly and destructive. Instead, they are fun and engaging, and should only be attempted with adult supervision. When done properly, these activities help children to explore the world around them, learn problem-solving techniques, and expand their creativity.
Has your child ever played with fire? Why not? Such an activity can teach a kid about risk and safety and controlling one of the most elemental forces in the universe.
So live dangerously. But don’t burn the house down.
The prophet Jeremiah takes a big risk when he buys a field during the siege of Jerusalem. In the 32nd chapter of Jeremiah, the Chaldean army is surrounding the city, the prophet is in prison, and in the middle of all this upset and uncertainty he takes the unexpected action of purchasing a piece of land in his hometown of Anathoth.
I think the Book of Jeremiah should be subtitled Fifty Dangerous Things (God Should Let a Prophet Do).
So what is going on here? The word of LORD comes to Jeremiah through a cousin named Hanamel, saying, “Buy my field that is at Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, for the right of possession and redemption is yours” (Jeremiah 32:8). Hanamel is offering Jeremiah a piece of land that seems to be worthless, since the Chaldeans are about to crush King Zedekiah and the Israelites and take them into exile in Babylon. But Jeremiah jumps at the opportunity — the LORD speaks to him and says, “Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land” (v. 15).
Jeremiah takes a chance and makes a risky investment. Why? Because the LORD has spoken to him. He does a dangerous thing, because God has promised that the land of Anathoth has a future, despite all evidence to the contrary.
Sure enough, the people of Anathoth do eventually return, after the exile (Ezra 2:23). God’s word is revealed to be reliable, trustworthy, and true.
What looked risky turns out to be right.
Not particularly constructive activities … but fun.
Especially if you are a kid. If you are a child, or if you have ever been a child, you know what I am talking about.
According to a new book, these are three of the fifty dangerous things that parents should let their children do. The title of the book? Not surprisingly, it is Fifty Dangerous Things (You Should Let Your Children Do). In response to the overprotective style of parenting that seems to dominate our culture today, the authors are urging moms, dads, and kids to live dangerously!
Go ahead: Lick a battery! It will teach you about shock and electric currents.
The dangerous activities in this book are not deadly and destructive. Instead, they are fun and engaging, and should only be attempted with adult supervision. When done properly, these activities help children to explore the world around them, learn problem-solving techniques, and expand their creativity.
Has your child ever played with fire? Why not? Such an activity can teach a kid about risk and safety and controlling one of the most elemental forces in the universe.
So live dangerously. But don’t burn the house down.
The prophet Jeremiah takes a big risk when he buys a field during the siege of Jerusalem. In the 32nd chapter of Jeremiah, the Chaldean army is surrounding the city, the prophet is in prison, and in the middle of all this upset and uncertainty he takes the unexpected action of purchasing a piece of land in his hometown of Anathoth.
I think the Book of Jeremiah should be subtitled Fifty Dangerous Things (God Should Let a Prophet Do).
So what is going on here? The word of LORD comes to Jeremiah through a cousin named Hanamel, saying, “Buy my field that is at Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, for the right of possession and redemption is yours” (Jeremiah 32:8). Hanamel is offering Jeremiah a piece of land that seems to be worthless, since the Chaldeans are about to crush King Zedekiah and the Israelites and take them into exile in Babylon. But Jeremiah jumps at the opportunity — the LORD speaks to him and says, “Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land” (v. 15).
Jeremiah takes a chance and makes a risky investment. Why? Because the LORD has spoken to him. He does a dangerous thing, because God has promised that the land of Anathoth has a future, despite all evidence to the contrary.
Sure enough, the people of Anathoth do eventually return, after the exile (Ezra 2:23). God’s word is revealed to be reliable, trustworthy, and true.
What looked risky turns out to be right.
posted by Henry Brinton | 9:05 AM
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