Blind Faith

Blind Faith (No. 32, 2008)

Modern parables that have true “staying power” don’t come along very
often. Illustrations abound in speeches and sermons, but pithy, striking
images that can vividly imprint themselves in your mind and easily reappear
when life presents situations addressed by the parable are much more rare. One
I have always loved has been replaying in my mind since last week’s Blind
Faith dealing with What Really Matters.

Last week I wrote that visions of Olympic gold, or images of people
desperately trying to salvage truly important items after earthquakes, floods,
and other disasters may cause us to ask of our own lives, “What really
matters?” Loving God, demonstrating God’s grace to others, and following
Christ, whatever the cost were the items I highlighted among what the Bible
says really matters. But many other important concerns - from home and family,
to work, to self-improvement - quickly and persistently demand attention. How
do you deal with the competing demands?

Setting priorities correctly touches everything we do at church, home,
work, school, or wherever we spend our time. Stephen Covey tells about one of
his associates attending a time-management conference where the seminar leader
presented this memorable modern parable. It has been repeated in countless
sermons, speeches, and online postings since Covey included it in his book,
First Things First. Stephen Covey, himself, has demonstrated the parable
numerous times. The following version is slightly shortened and edited from
the book:

One day an expert in time management was speaking to a
group of business students. As he stood in front of the group of high-powered
over-achievers he said, “Okay, it’s time for a quiz.” Reaching under the table,
he pulled out a wide-mouthed gallon jar and set it on the table next to a
platter covered with fist-sized rocks. “How many of these rocks do you think we
can get in the jar?” he asked the audience.

After the students made their guesses, the seminar leader said, “Okay,
let’s find out.” He put one rock in the jar, then another, then another–until
no more rocks
would fit. Then he asked, “Is the jar full?”

Everybody could see that not one more of the rocks would fit, so they
said, “Yes.”

“Not so fast,” he cautioned. From under the table he lifted out a
bucket of gravel, dumped it in the jar, and shook it. The gravel slid into all
the little spaces left by the big rocks. Grinning, the seminar leader asked
once more, “Is the jar full?”

A little wiser by now, the students responded, “Probably not.”

“Good,” the teacher said. Then he reached under the table to bring up
a bucket of sand. He started dumping the sand in the jar. While the students
watched, the sand filled in the little spaces left by the rocks and gravel.
Once more he looked at the class and said, “Now, is the jar full?”

“No,” everyone shouted back.

“Good!” said the seminar leader, who then grabbed a pitcher of water
and began to pour it into the jar. He got something like a quart of water into
that jar before he said, “Ladies and gentlemen, the jar is now full. Can
anybody tell me the lesson you can learn from this? What’s my point?”

An eager participant spoke up: “Well, there are gaps in your schedule.
And if you really work at it, you can always fit more into your life.”

“No,” the leader said. “That’s not the point. The point is this: if I
hadn’t put those big rocks in first, I would never have gotten them in.”

(Paraphrased from Stephen R. Covey, A. Roger Merrill, and Rebecca R.
Merrill, First Things First, Free Press, 1996, pp. 88-90)

Identifying the big rocks, gravel, sand, and water allusions in your own
life is helped greatly by the vivid visual image of the parable.

One big rock, according to Jesus, is setting our highest priority as
living the way God designed us to live. The Bible verse I have quoted most
often in these devotionals states Jesus’ teaching clearly. In the Sermon on
the Mount, Jesus said, ” The thing you should want most is God’s kingdom and
doing what God wants. Then all these other things you need will be given to
you.” (Matthew 6:33 NCV) Food, clothing, and personal appearance are some of
the sand and gravel Jesus mentioned specifically just before he called for
putting the big rock of living responsibly as a citizen of the Kingdom of God
in our lives first.

Paul had an impressive resume`, which he recited on several occasions.
He was highly educated in the best schools. He was a full Roman citizen. He
was a respected religious leader. His star had blazed brightly among his
contemporaries when he was a young man. But Paul would certainly have called
all these laudable factors in his life just more sand and gravel, (actually, he
called them something much less!) when compared to the essential rock of Jesus
Christ in his life. Another of my favorite passages of scripture conveys
Paul’s testimony: ” I once thought all these things were so very important, but
now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. {8} Yes,
everything else is worthless when compared with the priceless gain of knowing
Christ Jesus my Lord. I have discarded everything else, counting it all as
garbage, so that I may have Christ {9} and become one with him. I no longer
count on my own goodness or my ability to obey God’s law, but I trust Christ to
save me.” (Philippians 3:7-9a NLT)

Jesus seems to recognize how constantly we are tempted to fill our lives
with what we think of as the “nitty gritty” matters of life, many of which
simply turn out to be gravel and sand. As important as families, homes, jobs,
financial security, education, and all our other daily concerns may appear from
our point of view, if we fill our lives with those concerns first, we may not
find room for our relationship with Christ. But if we miss following Jesus, we
miss foundation-sized rocks that will sustain us all the way through eternity.
Jesus was clear about this with his disciples: “Then Peter said, ‘We’ve left
everything to follow you.’ {29} Jesus said to them, ‘I can guarantee this
truth: Anyone who gave up his home, wife, brothers, parents, or children
because of the kingdom of God {30} will certainly receive many times as much in
this life and will receive eternal life in the world to come.’” (Luke 18:28-30
GWT)

Can you identify the big rocks that need to go in your jar? What about
sifting out all the sand and gravel that always wants to fill your jar
prematurely A little of this, a little of that, and soon no room is left for
what really matters, personally following Jesus and loving others the way he
does. But get those rocks settled, and other concerns will snug up around
Jesus’ kind of love very well.

J. Edward Culpepper, Ph.D.