Have you ever heard this one?
Have you heard that, on average, while we are sleeping, we will unknowingly swallow, like, 100 spiders in our lifetime?
Of course that’s ridiculous, just another urban myth. Yet I’ll bet there are kids all over the country who heard the story one time and believe it for all they’re worth. Can’t you see those poor kids, lying in bed, afraid to go to sleep because a spider might crawl in their mouth?
Trust me. Spiders are trying to avoid mouths, not crawl into them.
The point is, you have to be careful where you get your information.
Now listen to this. We let some of the stupidest people influence us.
They write books and produce TV shows. They create websites and make movies. They print magazines and sell millions of them at the grocery store.
They have the capability of producing “information tonnage,” yet they are stupid. But when we hear something often enough, we believe it. And the next thing you know, we can’t sleep at night for fear of swallowing spiders.
So let me ask you, where are you getting your information? Do you know what kind of people they are? What are their motives?
I try to make my primary source of information that great Book of Books, the Bible.
And one thing I like about the Bible is that it is full of stories we can learn from.
Here’s one I like found in Second Chronicles 22 and 23.
King Jehoram was dead. The Bible says, “He passed away…to no one’s regret.*
He had a wife named Athaliah who was wicked, too. Their son Ahaziah became king when his dad Jehoram died.
Now remember my point here – be careful where you get your information.
The new king Ahaziah got a lot of his information from his mother. Second Chronicles 22:3 says this, “His mother encouraged him in doing wrong.”
Now let me ask you, do you think Ahaziah thought that through? Do you think he said to himself, “Gee, Mom’s telling me to do wrong?”
I doubt it. These are descendants of the wicked Ahab and Jezebel. When Ahaziah became king, he inherited a lousy administration going all the way back to Ahab. The Bible says, “They became his advisers, to his undoing.”
Now here is the big question. Who is advising us? Are they advising us to our undoing?
Do you think Ahaziah said to himself, “Gee, these people are advising me to my undoing?”
No. If he thought that he would have done something different.
Now get this. Ahaziah was getting advice. It was to his undoing, but he thought it was okay.
So what about us? Could we be getting bad advice…but think it’s okay?
How can we know?
I say, measure it against the great standards of the Bible. If it doesn’t measure up, it’s bad advice.
You know, there is so much bad advice floating around. Sometimes I read these advice columns and the stupidity stuns me.
But you know what? To them, it’s not stupid. Why? Because they have nothing to compare it to. It’s only by contrast that stupidity is revealed.
Poor Ahaziah had no contrast. All around him were bad advisors, including his own crazy mother. He had nothing to compare it to. With no contrast, stupidity seems…normal.
So get some contrast today. Pick up your Bible and get into the Holy Word of God. Then make all your other advice measure up to the Lord’s high standards.
And remember to be careful…be careful where you get your information.
* Second Chronicles 21:20
(As heard on Wave 94.1 FM)
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