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 A
recently published comic strip depicts a conversation between
two small boys in which one is telling about his dad hearing a
strange grinding noise coming from the engine of his car. When
asked if he stopped to fix it, the little boy replied, “No, he
just turned the radio up louder so he couldn’t hear it!” It
struck me that we “fix” a lot of our problems in similar
fashion — by just turning up the radio, so to speak.
Take,
for instance, the sinner who knows what he must do to become a
Christian. He realizes that some major spiritual repairs are in
order, yet lacking the courage to make them he may “turn the
radio up” by criticizing the hypocrites in the church or by
poking fun at some Bible teaching. He may even attempt to drown
out the demands of truth with other side issues such as the
untaught natives on some far away island. We are made to wonder
whether his “What about them?” is not more cover than
concern. It may be nothing more than so much “blaring” to
hide the more important “What about me?”
But
even among those who know less about becoming Christians, there
is often a tendency to tune-out “uncomfortable” spiritual
subjects such as righteousness, self-control, and the judgment
to come (Acts 24:25). Like Felix, they may “turn up the radio”
by appealing to a more convenient season. Or, like Festus, they
may try to avert the issue by discrediting the teacher of truth:
“. .Festus saith with a loud voice, Paul, thou are mad; thy
much learning is turning thee mad.” (Acts 26:24) He was not
unlike certain Pentecostians who “turned up
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their radios” by accusing the
Spirit-filled apostles of being drunk with new wine (Acts 2:13).
With violent prejudice some had even sought to muffle the
teaching of Jesus by calling him “a. gluttonous man and a
winebibber” (Matt. 11:19). Like the others, they were hiding
the very thing they needed to be hearing.
But
why have so many wanted to suppress the sounds of truth? Perhaps
because it is a discomfiting sound that tells us there is
something in our lives that needs fixing — and especially if
it happens to be something we don’t want fixed! That was the
problem with some sinners John writes about. They “loved the
darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil. For
every one that doeth evil hateth the light.. .“ (Jn. 3:19,20).
Even some professed Christians don’t like to hear the truth
taught about certain subjects. To them it becomes as an
objectionable “noise” to be muffled in some way — perhaps
by heaping to themselves teachers after their own lusts (2 Tim.
4:3). Satan has the remedy: fix the “noise”, not the ailing
soul.
Others
know soul “fixin” means admitting wrong and making changes
— which seemingly very few are willing to do. Here’s where
pride says, “turn up the radio!”— but here’s where
courage and character say, “speak Lord, thy servant heareth.”
True followers of Christ want the truth — all of it. Even when
it reproves, rebukes and condemns. Even when it grates and
grinds. Pity the poor soul who would suppress it! Dan S. Shipley
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