Set Your Mind Above

S2 E42 - Wisdom from Mayberry

May 03, 2022 Season 2 Episode 42
Set Your Mind Above
S2 E42 - Wisdom from Mayberry
Show Notes Transcript

I am an old soul. I listen to old music, watch old movies & old shows. There is so much more wholesome content than what is frequently put out today in looking to times past. One of my favorite shows is the Andy Griffith show, and one particular episode made it's way around social media this week. It's where Opie is convinced by a traveling vagabond to skip school an steal. When Andy contronts the man, he thinks Opie should be able to decide for himself how to live. Andy informs him that's not how it works with children, they need taught better from someone who knows the dangers of the world and difference between right and wrong. Well...we are God's children, and often we act just like Opie. We think we know what's best, and we end up getting ourselves into all kinds of trouble. We need to learn to wait & trust in the Lord, because they things he instructs us in are truly in our best interest & for our good. 

#SetYourMindAbovePodcast

Hey everybody, and welcome back to the Set Your Mind Above Podcast! I’m your host BJ Sipe – I’m a Christian, a preacher, a husband, and a father. In this podcast we take everyday, ordinary events and explore how they can teach us extraordinary, eternal truths. I’m so glad that you joined me for this episode. Now, let’s open up our minds, our hearts, and our Bible’s together. 

I am an old soul. I find that so many of my interests are found in things that were popular anywhere from a century to 50 years ago, long before my time being born in 1990. If you were to ask me who my favorite musicians are, I would say things like James Taylor, Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, the Eagles, etc. In all likelihood, I probably couldn’t name 5 people that are currently being played on the radio. I will also watch anything in black and white. Some of my favorite movies are Casablanca, North by Northwest, to Catch a Thief, or anything with Danny Kaye in it. Also some of my favorite shows are all in black and white – I Love Lucy, Perry Mason, or the Andy Griffith Show. I think there are a lot of reasons for this. First, the kind of things that I enjoy watching are not filled with the kind of trash that is in most television shows or movies today. I don’t have to worry about frequent nudity, language, violence, or things of that nature more often than not. I understand this is a generalization, and there are always exceptions to the rule, but all in all things that have been made long ago were exceedingly wholesome in nature while the vast majority of what is produced now is not. But second, there is just something nostalgic about watching depictions of times past – a simpler life with simpler people, even if it is a Hollywood depiction. At any rate, just this week I saw a clip that was shared by a friend of mine from the Andy Griffith show that had an incredible amount of wisdom. It was a scene from the episode where Opie (Andy’s son) gets caught up a with a man who is a vagabond just passing through. Unfortunately, this man had no regard for the law, and taught Opie it was fine for him to simply take whatever he wanted if it helped himself with no regard for others. That is when Andy got involved and had a conversation with this gentleman. I’ll play the audio if you’re listening to the podcast, but I’ll type out the majority here if you happen to be reading this online. After this vagabond told Andy that Opie ought to decide for himself how he wanted to live, Andy said the following. “No, I’m afraid it don’t work that way. You can’t let a young’n decide for himself. He’ll grab at the first flashy thing with shiny ribbons on it. Then, when he finds out there’s a hook in it, it’s too late. Wrong ideas come packaged withs o much glitter that it’s hard to convince them that other things might be better in the long run. All a parent can do is say ‘wait’ and ‘trust me’ and try to keep temptation away.” Now, call me an old soul, but that’s just not the kind of message that you hear portrayed in our modern day media. Usually it’s quite the opposite – that parents are stupid, and youth are the future and should pursue whatever it is that makes them feel good. I think that our fictional fan favorite Sherriff, however, was on to something. By God’s design, children have no business in deciding for themselves what is right and what is wrong. They need correction, training, discipline, and guidance by their parents. If I left decisions up to my daughter, every meal would consist of gummies, candy, ice cream, and French toast sticks. Of course, she has no idea that such a diet would make her sick to her stomach and make her malnourished, because all she sees is how tasty and delicious her favorite treats are. She needs me to instruct her, and show her what she needs over what she wants, and that I truly have her best interests in mind. 

Well, we as the children of God must understand that we are to learn the same lesson when it comes to ourselves. In our great pride and ignorance, we assume that can figure out for ourselves without the help of divine instruction what is right and what is wrong, but nothing can be further from the truth. Proverbs 14:12 says, “There is a way that seems right to a person, but its end is the way to death.” We read similarly in Jeremiah 10:23, “I know, O LORD, that the way of man is not in himself, that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.” We are much like our own children in this way. We think we know what is right or wrong, but were we left to our own devices and to decide for ourselves, our choices would – and quite frequently do – end in disaster. This is because we are deceived by our own desires, we grab at that which is flashy and exciting, not knowing the consequences of our actions and what it will bring forth. Just like you bait a hook to catch a fish, so Satan baits his hook to tempt us – and before we know it, we’re snagged and our decisions bring forth spiritual death. James warns us of this in his letter, as he wrote, “No one undergoing a trial should say, “I am being tempted by God,” since God is not tempted by evil, and he himself doesn’t tempt anyone. But each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desire. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death. Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters.” (James 1:13-16) When we abandon God’s wisdom and instruction to follow our own, destruction is always soon to follow. Just consider for a moment the result of abandoning God’s wisdom for man’s wisdom in several areas. When someone abandon’s God’s instruction regarding marriage, and breaks their covenant with their spouse, look at the wake of destruction that follows. Divorce is nearing an all time high, and as marriages are destroyed, the children are left to suffer too. In fact, a nuclear family, or the family as designed by God, is a near anomaly in today’s culture – and we are seeing terrifying consequences of our choices. Or perhaps when someone abandon’s God’s instruction regarding worship to him for our own wisdom, look what happens. We are left with weak churches, more interested in making money and entertaining their members than we are with equipping saints and saving the lost or serving those in need. We can go on and on forever, but the message is simple – when we abandon God’s wisdom for our own, it will never result in anything good. We must learn that true wisdom is that which comes from above, from the mind and mouth of our creator. When the Lord spoke to the people of Israel through Moses in Deuteronomy 10:12-14, he said, “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you except to fear the Lord your God by walking in all his ways, to love him, and to worship the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul? Keep the Lord’s commands and statutes I am giving you today, for your own good. The heavens, indeed the highest heavens, belong to the Lord your God, as does the earth and everything in it.” God is not merely some passing vagabond coming through and telling us how we ought to live, nor is he some power-hungry dictator barking orders. He is our Father, and as our Father he loves us deeply. Not only is he our Father, but he is our Creator – he knows all things and created all things. The heavens and all the earth belong to him. Knowing this, we must be honest and ask ourselves: who really knows better – us or our heavenly Father? The things he instructs us in are truly for our good. They benefit us not only in this life, but for the life to come. His wisdom exposes the traps of Satan, and reveals to us a better way. And just as Opie had to learn back in Mayberry, may we all learn in humility to simply wait & trust in our Father through faith.

Thank you for tuning in for this week’s episode, and I would invite you back every Tuesday for a brand-new episode each week. If you haven’t already, be sure to find us on Facebook for occasional announcements and special video sessions. If you have benefited from this podcast, please if you’re able to be sure to share it with someone else that you think could benefit from it as well. Until next time, know that I love you, that God loves you, and may we all each & every day set our minds above.