What Happened?

 

In the 1931 March 29, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch ran an article, “A Nation Without Leaders or Political Parties; An Office-Seeking Class in Control” by Nicholas Murray Butler, which stated that: There Are Three Types of People: Those Who Make Things Happen, Those Who Watch Things Happen, and Those Who Wonder What Happened? A harsh statement? Not really. You cannot beware until you are first aware.

 

In Luke 21:8 Jesus said, “Keep watch! Be careful that you are not fooled.”

 

There is an old adage that says: “Ignorance is no excuse”. That saying is speaking to deliberate ignorance, whether by choice or the malicious deception by another. The idiom: You don’t know what you don’t know is a true statement also. We all start with a blank slate (so to speak), except for natural instincts. Experience by doing things and observing things in life, plus trial and error experiments where we learn from our mistakes, along with the teaching and training by others, gives us the information for beneficial learning, educating, understanding, progressing, growing in knowledge and wisdom. This data is necessary for being good and productive individual, a vital part of society as community contributors that allow families and societies to function at the maximum efficiency for prosperity, peace and joy. But, also to avoid the pitfalls, roadblocks, deceptions, distractions and dangers that exist in this fallen world by people without your best interest or the interest of their Maker in mind. Quite the opposite; The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. Don’t pretend that they are not there; we educate ourselves, be aware, anticipate, set up safe-guards, beware, and defend as needed.

 

Romans 16:17 “I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them.”

 

Another old maxim states: Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Those with evil intentions may be able to trick you and I with mis-information, half-truths and outright lies as we trust others to act for the common good of all. But, once we discover the truth, we don’t get burned twice. As the Philosopher Peter Townshend proclaimed in 1971, “Then we get on our knees and pray. We don’t get fooled again.” We don’t look for trouble; trouble does a good enough job of popping up on its own. It is not a matter of “if”, but “when”. The Lord Jesus explained in John 3:19 that “the Light (the Way, the Truth and the Life in Christ) has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the Light; for their deeds were evil.”

 

Jesus instructed us in Matthew 10:16, “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.” Shrewd, meaning a cautious character, intelligent, wise, prudent, and mindful. Ignorance is not bliss. There are just three kinds of people in the world. Which one are you? The few who make things happen; in the slightly larger group who observe them happening; or in the great majority who never even know what is going on around them and wonder: What happened? 

In Christ, Brian