Myths And Wives' Tales

           If you point these things out to the brothers and sisters, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished on the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed. Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance. That is why we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people, and especially of those who believe. (I Timothy 4:6-10)

          Ambiguous adjectives! “These” things. To what does “these things” refer? To the warnings from yesterday’s passage about those who will (in the last days) try to mislead us? Or does it refer to having nothing to do with godless myths and the other pieces of wisdom in today’s passage? I suspect that the answer is “Yes!” It has to do with both.

          With that in mind:  Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales. I’m trying to think of what godless myths and old wives’ tales I believe. Of course, a big part of my mind rises up with “I don’t believe in any. I’m not that stupid!” But…

          I quit writing years ago because my name isn’t Isaac Asimov or Terry Brooks, and if you haven’t got a name, you may as well give up trying.

          Now that I’m writing again, I’m just deluding myself and throwing away money I don’t have on a dream that can’t come true.

          I lack the self-control to eat healthfully. If the food is there, I can’t not eat it.

          I have been a failure all my life, I’m a failure now, and I will be a failure.

          I can’t survive without someone to take care of me.

          I’m ugly.

          I worked at Sears for more than ten years. What employer would ever want someone Sears has destroyed?

           I’m a terrible human being, lacking in common sense, good manners, tact, and courage.

          No, these aren’t myths and old wives’ tales like “Step on a crack, break your mother’s back” or “If you go outside with wet hair, you’ll catch a cold.” But two things they have in common are me and the absence of God.

          Not all the myths we believe are personal. Most towns have a “we’re garbage” myths, too. I grew up in “Dreary Erie, Mistake on the Lake.” I’m currently living just outside of a small town in Florida. Someone recently remarked that my little community is between the cows and the criminals. The social media pages for the area constantly have complaints about the snowbirds and the druggies.

          It doesn’t matter where you live, there will be stories. One of the big godless myths going around is “We can’t ________. The government has to do it.” That idea brings to mind a scene from Buck Rogers in the 25^th Century. For some reason, Buck and Princess Ardalla were trying to escape, and Buck yells to her to start the ship’s engine.

          Ardalla replies, “Princesses don’t start engines.” For all her splendor and pride, she was inept.

Quickly on to another thing we’re not supposed to get caught up in: physical training. Paul tells us that it’s of more use than godless myths and old wives’ tales, but building our worlds around it isn’t wise. I suspect that the right balance for this is closer to “obsessive-compulsive” than I am, but probably less close to that than a bodybuilder is. There’s some value in physical training, after all. It teaches discipline, endurance, and self-control.

Ultimately, however, our focus should be on godliness. It’s amusing that the serpent tempted Adam and Eve with “you will be like the Most High.” Ever since we’ve wanted to be like the Most High – except for the part about acting like the Most High. We want the power and control of everything else, without developing the character that is the power and control of ourselves in a way that is like the Most High.

Someone used to point out that we become like the people with whom we associate. If we want to be like the Most High, we need to spend time with Him and with those who know Him.