Ecclesiastes says "there is an appointed time for everything...a time to give birth and a time to die.". Yet we have abortion and assisted suicide to choose times to die and elective c-sections to choose the most convenient time and method for birth.
Despite Ecclesiastes' statements about weeping and mourning, we seem to take it as a violation of our rights if we aren't laughing and dancing
There is "a time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted" - but we humans, in our arrogance, feel we're entitled to winter squash in summer and strawberries in December.
Like those in Babel, we're manipulating things in such a way as to think we have all the power. Even Christians are being subtly influenced by things like medicine and out of season produce where we no longer recognize our God who gave us such things, and could very easily take them away, if He so chooses.
So does this mean I sinned when I bought those pears sitting in my fridge? I don't think so. And I probably won't be passing up any fresh strawberries in December. But hopefully, I will appreciate my God who allowed such things, and my faith in Him and love for Him will not hinge on the availability of fresh spinach.
5 comments:
Good thought. It's so difficult (impossible?)for us to see all the tiny, subtle influences in our culture. I think the main way Satan gets around is by those little things no one notices. Thanks for noticing and sharing that with us.
P.S. It's amazing what God can do at grocery stores. I've had some very profound moments at Wal-Mart.
Yes and no. Feeling that we are entitled to whatever we want, whenever we want it, without regard to how God has ordered things, is bad. And being blind to the temptations that such luxuries create is bad.
However, the same thing that brings us out of season fruits and vegetables (which are good things that God provides) is the same thing that brings food to people who would have no food at all otherwise. Our ability to cultivate the land and move things across it is a blessing, and part of "subduing the earth" -- it is only our attitude that can make it a curse. It is a blessing from God that we have oranges in Pennsylvania, and can hope to have more. It is a bad thing that we fail to see it as such, but view it as an entitlement or proof of our independent strength.
I'm pretty sure you did sin in purchasing those pears, and I'm pretty sure you will feel your penance when you actually eat them.
Although anyone who decides to on-purpose eat a brown and ugly pear deserves all the taste punishment they get :)
Wow, lots of conversation going on here. To reply:
1. Adiel - Nothing profound happens to me at Wal-Mart. I don't go there enough. But the Big-K is a different story (and store).
2. Pentamom - "Yes and no" - I like that answer. It comforts me that someone who's opinion I respect can be (almost) as equivocally neurotic as me! Seriously, though, your point is well taken and I considered the positive uses of farming techniques that allow for the out-of-season fruit. But the point I was trying to emphasize was the entitlement factor for which Americans seem especially guilty.
3. Fritz - just because I BOUGHT the pears doesn't mean I them actually ATE them! Remember, I'm a SWCF - I buy fruits & vegetables with the best of intentions but then wind up eating take out. Therefore, the pears are rotting in my refrigerator compost/produce drawer (which is a different sin altogether).
Yeah, I thought later I might have been a little too negative (and with a "yes and no" answer, I consider that an accomplishment.) I think I was initially reacting to the phrase "out of season fruit & vegetables are just more indicators of man's vain and sinful nature."
Well, I guess they do indicate that, because that's part of how they function. But they aren't necessarily ONLY that, they're also indications of man's obedient use of God's gifts to produce good things from the land and distribute them throughout society, and of God's kindness in creating a world where good things of so many varieties can be produced and shared by various means. I guess that's how it is in a fallen world -- the good things become bad things in the hands of sinners or are used in bad ways or to prop up various kinds of sin, but they are still not only that.
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