Bella Vista Church of Christ
LIFELINES
April 25. 2001 Robb Hadley
Life in the Spin Cycle
The representative of a large company was making a statement concerning a change in his corporation’s business practices. He was quoted in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette as saying, ”It’s not a matter of saving money. It’s a matter of cost containment, really.” Once I had stopped laughing, I started thinking.
There is no shortage of job openings for spin-masters, those with a talent for differentiating where there is no difference and for dulling sharp distinctions where they do exist. If public discourse were a television, these people would be its out-of-control contrast knob.
Such folks were around long before they were called spin-masters however. In 1 Samuel 15, we read of King Saul’s disobedience to God’s orders in a battle with the Amalekites. Told to destroy the enemy and all his possessions, Saul instead took King Agag prisoner and returned from battle with the best animals the Amalekites had in tow. When confronted by Samuel, Saul claimed to have brought the animals as a sacrifice to Jehovah and insisted, “I did obey the voice of the Lord.” The king took an act of direct disobedience, put a little spin on it, and turned it into an act of holy and sacrificial service to God!
Putting one’s own spin on things happens down at church, too. I wonder what God thinks when one calls himself “Conservative” or “Progressive” when his most distinctive trait could best be labeled “Divisive.” How does God feel when I ignore a log in my eye while aiming a spotlight at the speck in the eye of another? What is His reaction when I pass off make-believe godliness as pure and undefiled religion?
God, aware of the human talent for self-deception, instructs us to practice careful self-examination (“Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves!” 2 Corinthians 13.5) and to be certain to speak with integrity (“But let your statement be, ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no’; anything beyond these is of evil.” Matthew 5:37). May we daily strive to do both.
ROBB HADLEY
Fayetteville, Ark.
