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Spinning Plates by David Barnes
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My brother in law, Berry Kercheville, used an illustration in a
sermon
many years ago that I have always remembered. It
"revolved" around a
circus act where a man placed a china plate on top of a long
flexible
wooden rod which was stuck upright in the top of a table. The fellow
spun
the plate as it rested balanced on top of the rod. As it began to
lose
momentum he simply grabbed the middle of the rod and used it's
flexibility
to keep the plate spinning. He had many rods and plates, so he added
plate
after plate to all these rods until he had about ten or twelve plates
spinning at once. The more plates he had spinning the more frantic his job
became. He ultimately got to the point where he was running from plate to
plate trying to keep them all going at once. The audience was
totally
involved because some plates were spinning so slowly they were about
to
fall of the rod and break. He would run from one end of the table to
the
other trying to keep an eye on all the spinning plates and keep them
going. In the show he never broke one plate but it was a close
thing. He
danced on the edge of disaster from the start. This simple illustration is easily used to display the lives of most Americans and many Christians. People's lives have become a balancing act where almost every responsibility is given an equal level of importance. Rushing from one responsibility to another is a "normal" part of daily life. No wonder people are exhausted at the end of the week! Yet even the weekend introduces some of the most frantic time schedules in our lives. Here are some of the "spinning plates" which demand so much from us. Our jobs are a necessity for our lives. It is a "plate" we cannot ignore. With the economic instability and job losses that are so common today it is no wonder our employment demands so much time and energy. We should give the proper amount of attention to our job, but it is all too easy to fall into the trap of allowing it to eat up time and attention that ought to be given to other areas. That is why Jesus said what He did in Matthew 6. If God is great enough and kind enough to feed the birds He certainly will feed us. Most of us have very nice homes which are nicely furnished. We have comfortable, well maintained cars. We dress well and actually have an abundance of choices about what we wear. All this has its place and we can certainly see God's blessings for us in material goods. Our challenge is to not become greedy and enthralled with the desire to obtain more. We need to keep the plate spinning but not at the expense of more important things. Family life and marriage should be of huge importance to us. This is the plate that most often suffers from too much attention to jobs. Some people must think the plate spins on its own. It seems many people think it gets its momentum from the material blessings / job plate. That is not the case. This plate must be given its own attention. In fact, it is more important than any job. Our country is suffering from inattention to family. Children are disillusioned with home because there is no "home," only a house. There emotional needs and longing for family security and guidance are lost to the struggle for more "things." They find their values in video games, television and peers who know no more than they do. God is mocked everywhere they go His name is blasphemed by their parents and school teachers. The radio stations debase every value God loves. The Bible teaches the value of family and the values families should embrace. This plate is one of the first to crash to the floor. It is tough to glue it back together. Balancing a broken plate is almost impossible, but God will help! Sports! After school sports. Soccer, basketball, football, softball, little league, field hockey, volley ball, etc. etc. etc.. "Sports" have become a dinner platter, not a plate! This one spins and spins, on and on. Parent and children miss worship services because their children are in "sports." Time and time again they miss the gathering of the saints because a game schedule came first. What do our children learn from this? What would you learn from this? I like sports. They are wholesome and recreative. They have a place in our lives. They should not preempt spiritual things as they often do. It is sad that this "dinner platter" is kept spinning while so many other things are left undone. Do our children spend one tenth of the time in Bible instruction that they spend in sports instruction? We need to be realistic about the relative importance of sports verses spiritual instruction in a child's formative years. We don't have them very long. Our spiritual plate. We will deal with this one differently. Christians should have a spiritual plate, one given to them by God. It should not be up on a stick with all these other plates! Our spiritual plate should be on the table. It should not "spin" rather it should be stationary, stable, in no danger of "falling" and breaking. If we allow it to be so it will be loaded with the food God gives day by day. It is our daily feast set for us by the Master. It symbolizes our relationship to Him. He is our Father and we are His child We feast at His table. What is your life like. How would you characterize it? How would God characterize it? We do have a number of responsibilities which demand our time and energy. God sees and appreciates our various duties. All He asks is that we keep in mind the most important things. Like Jesus told Martha, "Mary has chosen that good part which will not be take away from her?" Lk. 10:42 David Barnes is the evangelist at the Miller Avenue church of Christ in San Jose, California |