Cutting Your Own Hair Proves You Are Both Bald & Cheap
Ed, my neighbor next door, saw me with a fresh haircut. He is aware that I have been buzzing my own hair. He tells me that I can get away with cutting my own hair because I’m already bald. I have offered to buzz his hair for him for free, and for a donation to the Red Cross. “Why in the world would I give a donation to the Red Cross?†Ed demanded.
“Because at home and around the world they help people in trouble,†I told him. So he told me that it doesn’t matter because he would not trust me with hair clippers on his head even for a buzz job. Ed made it clear to me that he wants a haircut that makes him look good, not like he needs a wig. I told him some of us look better hairless. He is certain I need to get my eyes checked. I told him that often we only see what we want to see. I did warn him that he needs to notice when his wife gets her hair done or he will be in serious trouble with Ruby. He assumed I was speaking from experience and he was right.
It isn’t easy to always be aware of what we need to see around us. In a spiritual sense, we may see much more than what is enough for us. Strange, how some things instantly catch our eyes, and others things we miss altogether, even though, they are perfectly visible. My next door neighbor can spot a tractor, truck or trouble maker a mile away. His eyesight is so clear that he can tell you, who are hypocrites and phonies without even knowing them personally. Ed recognizes beets, spinach, and cucumbers, as hazardous food for himself, but glories in a cigarette or two for dessert. He never notices the health warnings on the cigarette packages. I understand this blindness as I never locate the calorie count on a chocolate bar wrapper. We are always tempted to see only what we want to see. What looks good to us may not be actually good for us at all.
The success of temptation is that what appears good or satisfying for us actually becomes damaging and potentially deadly. Who can see beyond what seems appealing to them? The Bible tells of danger of focusing only on what looks good to us. In the Garden of Eden, Eve saw the forbidden fruit and it was a delight to her eyes, and she ate it and passed on the indigestion of sin to all of us. There was also Achan, who saw and took the forbidden spoils from the conquered city of Jericho. Let’s not forget David, who got himself into no end of trouble, when he acted as a peeping tom towards Bathsheba.
Temptation is like a piece of meat held before a hungry dog. The dog won’t take his eyes off the food until he gets it. That is why we need to fix our eyes on Jesus when temptations catch our eyes. He is the one that overcame temptation entirely. He can help us to see what is better than what looks good to us.
