Upside Down
Posted by: forthrightmag <forthrightmag@...>
http://www.forthright.net
Going straight to the Cross
Tom said this article was just in time for Super
Bowl Sunday. What's that?
Upside Down
by Tim Hall
Across my desk each week flow several different
bulletins from churches across the country. I
occasionally get good ideas or information from
them, so I take a moment or two to scan each of
them. Some time back, I opened one to find that
the inside had been copied upside down. It was
really a minor thing, and easily corrected.
A few days before that, another item came to my
attention that I would also call upside down. This
one will not be so easily corrected. The quote:
"Farmers who grow the wheat used in Wheaties
cereal get only half as much money as Tiger Woods
receives from the boxes that carry his picture"
(Current Thoughts and Trends, June 2001). Let me
get this straight: General Mills pays more to have
a photo on the Wheaties cereal boxes than for all
the wheat that goes into the boxes' contents?
Incredible!
It's all about marketing, of course. You may have
a superior product, but if no one knows about it,
you'll never get rich. One way to get people's
attention is by using celebrities to advertise
your product. Wheaties has done this with sports
heroes for decades.
But this quote also says something about the
values of Americans. One man who plays a game
better than anyone else can make more money than
hundreds of men and women who provide much more
fundamental service to our country. And it's not
just farmers. There are many professions that are
significantly undervalued: Police officers,
teachers, firefighters, nurses, (preachers?), etc.
Yet where would our society be without any one of
these groups?
Do we value the things that matter most? That's a
good question for Christians to think about. In
our society, there are so many things that call
out for our attention. Many of those things are
not evil -- they're good in and of themselves. But
have we neglected the things that are most
important by fixing our attention on things of
lesser value?
"For my people have committed two evils: They have
forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and
hewn themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can
hold no water" (Jeremiah 2:13, New King James
Version). Nothing -- absolutely nothing -- is more
important than our relationship with God. We must
make sure we never neglect time with Him because
we are too busy with more trivial pursuits. Being
right with our Lord will keep life from becoming
upside down!