Articles
Trivial Pursuits
Trivial Pursuits
By Zeke Flores
Some time ago the board game "Trivial Pursuit" was introduced on the market. The game, which now has a 25th anniversary edition, became a huge success and is still enjoyed by people young and old. One can play the board game, an online version, a version for various electronic game systems including the X-Box, Play Station, and Wii, and even one for the iPod. It's been two TV game shows and even the subject of a TV movie. The game has turned into a reliable money-maker for its manufacturer Hasbro and when you go to their website, you can browse through three pages containing some 22 Trivial Pursuit related games and items. Basically, each player advances by correctly answering general knowledge and popular culture questions in different categories that are easy, medium, or hard. I've played the game, and it's a hoot.
However, my concern is not about a harmless game but whether people, Christians specifically, spend too much time in other forms of "trivial pursuit."
If you've been a Christian for any length of time, chances are you've heard a sermon or two about being faithful, having conviction, and forging ahead towards heaven. And, you'll probably hear many more like them as your life progresses. The reason is simple: We are too easily distracted.
The Bible mentions some things of weighty concern that we ought to pay attention to, but warns us that those important things can take our focus away from what should be our main purpose. Among them are family (1Cor. 7:32-35), household duties (Luke 10:38-42), and business (Matt. 13:22). While these are important priorities, could it be that Christians lose their direction for far lesser things?
In our recreation driven culture, more and more people expect "me" time. We want to make sure we have fun and so we buy video games, DVDs, computers, ATV's, plan vacations, go to the movies, etc. None of these is inherently wrong, but at what cost do we indulge our "need" for recreation? Do we sacrifice time with God through Bible study and prayer for that ever important "me" time? Jesus warned about those who are "choked with worries and riches, and the pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to maturity" (Luke 8:14).
The same could be said about worldly Christians who pursue a relationship with the opposite sex only to fall prey to the temptation of physical attraction. One of the saddest things to witness would be a young single girl coming forward at church with a slightly bulging belly and the sad confession that follows. Paul reminds, "... this is the will of God, your sanctification, that is that you abstain from sexual immorality" (1Thes. 4:3). Yet too many people, young and not so young, fall into the pit of satisfying this fleeting pleasure that sanctification is all but lost.
Other "trivial pursuits" could be mentioned: selfishness, covetousness, ego, social position, and disrespect (Prov. 28:22-27) to name a few. But the warnings about keeping our focus sharp and our perspective clear ring loudly in Scripture: "Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness" (Matt. 6:33), "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth ... but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven ... for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matt. 6:19-21), "One thing I have asked from the LORD, that I shall seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD and to meditate in His temple" (Psalm 27:4), " ... one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus" (Phil 3:13-14),
Playing Trivial Pursuit is fun, but allowing the trivial pursuits of this life to overshadow our purpose as God's people is quite another thing. Let's be a purposeful people and reach forward to heaven showing God we love Him with "all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength" (Mark 12:30).
Mini Sermons
“We who have lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing -- the last of human freedoms -- to choose one’s attitude in any given sets of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” (Viktor Frankl)
“To know Christ is to become so one with Him that we share His every experience. It means that we share the way He walked; that we share the cross He bore; that we share the death He died; and that finally, we share the life He lives forevermore.” (William Barclay)
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me” (Rev. 3:20). Holment Hunt, a famous English painter, in the late 1800's painted a masterpiece entitled, “Christ at the door.” It is said that when Mr. Hunt had finished his painting, he displayed it for the critics. As it was unveiled, one of the critics replied with laughter, “You forgot to put a latch on the door.” The great artist replied, “There is no latch on the door; the latch is on the inside.” When we examine a reproduction of Hunt's, “Christ at the door,” we will see no latch on the door. Truly, the latch is on the inside. If Jesus comes into our lives, it will not be because He forced His way in, but because we opened the door by submission to Him.
All the Evil in the World
All the water in the world,
However hard it tried,
Could never, never sink a ship
Unless it got inside.
All the evil in the world,
The wickedness and sin,
Can never sink your soul’s fair craft,
Unless you let it in.
(AC Hoffman)
A Moments Wisdom on Procrastination
--Saying “It is too early,” makes it too late. —Japanese Proverb
--One of the greatest labor-saving devices of today is tomorrow.
--Alexander the Great, upon being asked how he had conquered the world, replied, “By not delaying.”
--We cannot do everything at once, but we can do something at once. —Calvin Coolidge
--It is never the wrong time to do the right thing.
--The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up.
--Wisdom is knowing what to do next, skill is knowing how to do it, and virtue is doing it.
--Every time a man puts a new idea across, he finds ten men who thought of it before he did—but they only thought of it and did nothing with it.
--Young people tell what they are doing, old people what they have done, and fools what they wish to do.
--Better try to do something, and fail in the deed, than try to do nothing, and always succeed.
Upcoming Sermons
10/30/22 AM - May the Lord Give You Peace; PM - The Making of a Fool
11/6/22 AM - Equal in God’s Eyes; PM - Singing Service: Congregational Choice of Songs
11/13/22 AM - Is God Too Strict?; PM - Seven Social Sins
11/20/22 AM - Frightening the Faithful; PM - Titus, the True Son
11/27/22 AM - “Not!”; PM - “Without a Parable, He Did Not Speak to Them"
