Skip to main content

Don't Be Untethered!

When I was elementary school, we often played tether ball at recess.  The game is played with a ball that is attached to a rope which, in turn, is attached to the top of a pole.  The object of the game is for two players to hit the ball in opposite direction to the other and the winner is the one to cause it (the rope and ball) to wrap itself around the pole to the point in which the ball touches the pole. 

One time, while I was playing, the rope broke and the ball went flying.  As we stood watching it, wondering what in the world we were going to do, we realized it was “game over!”

The memory of playing tether ball was recently stirred when I heard the phrase “untethered from the Gospel”.  It also prompted me to look up the word tether and I found that it means to be connected to, joined to, or tied to.

As I scrolled through more definitions, I found that a tether is also an attachment that characteristically anchors something movable to something fixed.

Perhaps more relevant to younger people today is the definition pertaining to the world of technology:  tethering is the practice of using a mobile device (such as a smart phone) as a modem to connect another device, such as a laptop or another mobile phone to the internet

While tether is probably not a word commonly found in the Bible, it can point us to an important spiritual concept:  “But whoever is joined to the Lord becomes one with him in spirit.”  (1 Cor 6:17)

We should be tethered to the Lord, as in joined to Him, in order that we can become one with Him in spirit.  In addition, we should be constantly connected to Him.  Our very lives, in fact, should be tied up in Him.

Furthermore, since we are, by nature, movable, we should be tethered to something that is steadfast (fixed and immovable):  “May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.”  (2 Thess 3:5)

Another way of looking at this is to think of it all in the opposite as in untethered as in being disconnected or disjoined or untied and those are places you never want to be!

So, tether yourself to the Lord and be one with Him in spirit.

And don’t be untethered from the Gospel!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hide Not...

Over the centuries, the words have brought great comfort and encouragement.   The words are often used as a benediction or a blessing:   The Lord bless you and keep you: The Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you: The Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.   (Num 6:24-26)   What in the world is a countenance?  By definition, it is a person's face or facial expression. So if the Lord’s face shines upon us and if He lifts up His countenance upon us, what does all that mean? It means that He is giving us His attention.  But even more so, His face shining upon us gives us t he picture of a beaming face like that of a parent for their beloved child.  And the reference to Him lifting up His countenance points to God extending divine favor and peace to us. Sometimes we can appreciate things more by seeing opposites.  The opposite of a lifted face is a face that has fallen, perhaps because of sham...
Post a Comment
Read more

Can't Get No Satisfaction

One of the songs that were popular in my youth was not particularly upbeat or helpful but it probably did express some of the angst of my generation.  It was not one that particularly resonated with me but as I recently read the book of Haggai, it did come to mind, well, at least some of the lyrics did.  It was the Rolling Stones song with the lyrics “I can’t get no satisfaction”.  Take a look at the chorus of that bleak song:   I can't get no satisfaction; I can't get no satisfaction; Gonna try and I try and I try and I try; I can't get no - I can't get no –   Now take a look at Haggai 1:6 – “ You have planted much, but harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.” It sure sounds like the people of Judah couldn’t get any satisfaction with the things of life that normally should have brought some type of s...
Post a Comment
Read more

Outrun the What?

“Outrun the rays”!  It’s a phrase I noticed on a billboard.  I think it’s a public service type campaign.  The intent, I assume, is to get people out of the harmful rays of the sun that can cause things like skin cancer.  But you really can’t outrun the rays, they travel at about 186,282 miles per second! Yet the campaign has a certain appeal to it.   “Outrun” sounds a lot like a competition and maybe it gets the competitive juices going for some.   Yet, try as you may, you still can’t outrun the rays, but you can implement strategies to avoid them.   And most of those strategies have a simple foundational aspect to them; you avoid the rays by finding some type of covering. Strategies for covering up from the rays include being in shaded areas, putting on clothing that blocks the rays or putting on sun screen. While the sun’s rays can certainly cause significant physical harm and cover is essential to combat that, there are also areas of our live...
Post a Comment
Read more