TONGUE TWISTER

It was called a tongue twister. And twist the tongue it did. Someone with absolutely too much time on their hands and brain thought of putting words together that tripped up speech patterns. They revealed just one of the weaknesses of the flesh.

My favorite one I eventually mastered, with entirely too much time on my hands and brain. That, after failing and bungling the words like a baby.

image courtesy of photo bucket.com

We were challenged to say, “Rubber Baby Buggy Bumper”, as fast as we could. A couple of words in and it sounded like the baby in the buggy just discovered the letter “B”.

Then there was the “Magic Pencil”. It wasn’t really magic, but it bent the brain through the eyes like the tongue twister did through the mouth.

The Magic Pencil worked best with a brand new one. The trickster would hold the pencil opposite the silver crimped pink eraser side and between their thumb and forefinger. They’d move their whole hand up and down a couple of inches each way, keeping their wrist locked.

After a few seconds of wagging the writing utensil, it began to look like it was flexing in the middle of the wooden pencil like it was bending, hence the Magic Pencil.

It was just an optical illusion. I know, I grabbed the first couple of pencils and snapped them in half, thinking I was getting worked by a fraud and a fake rubber pencil.

The flesh and our senses are easily fooled, and I mean far beyond that of a ventriloquist act. The weak flesh wants to believe a lie. Need proof? Just look at how many on-line scammers there are. Bad folks preying on the weakness of gullible people who struggle to learn the truth in the old adage, “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is”.

We want great deals and we want security.

Most of us have learned the hard way that to get a great deal you have to compromise. And compromising never gives us the return on investment we’re dreaming of, no matter if it’s physical or spiritual.

Many of us have also learned that the price paid for security, as promised by other humans, cost us our freedoms… and when that’s gone… so is the security.

We’re like sheep – in need of guidance and protection. But unlike sheep, we’re more easily lured away from our security and true freedom. We’re deceived into believing that we can find peace, joy, and security physically.

If that were the case, a lot more rich people would be a whole lot happier.

The Good Shepherd and His good Word reveal that the world and it’s inhabitants for what they are; liars and deceivers.

If someone believes the promise of security and freedom outside the sovereignty of God… then they’ll fall prey to the flesh as easily as the Magic Pencil and Rubber Baby Buggy Bumper… said really fast.