Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.”
Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”
“Tell me, teacher,” he said.
“Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”
Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.”
“You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.
Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.  You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”
Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”
The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”
Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

• Luke 7:39-50

And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’
“Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’
“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’
“This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”

• Luke 10:16-21

I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.

• Philippians 4:11

Having lived a few years in Texas, I have heard the phrase “bigger is better” a lot, but is it?

In the first Scripture above, the one with the bigger debt might be more appreciative, if the debts were cancelled, but carrying a bigger debt is nothing that I would want.

The second Scripture talks about the rich fool wanting to build bigger barns to hold his great riches, but since he was about to die, those bigger barns would never do him any good.

So, in both these contexts, bigger either was not better or it was useless.

Would you rather have a large tumor in your body that has grown out of control or would you rather have a smaller tumor, clearly defined borders, easily removed?  Yes, I know.  I would prefer option three, no tumor at all, but if given the choice and no third option, the second one, the smaller one sounds better.

With all my allergies and sinus issues, I often get mild headaches that can last more than a month.  I am used to them and I rarely if ever go to the medicine cabinet, but if I get a bigger headache, you can bet that I am going for acetaminophen.  No one wants a bigger headache.

And if you have ever been in Texas, especially along the Gulf Coast, I would prefer smaller mosquitoes.  Those “suckers” are huge down there.

A bigger church requires more custodians to keep it clean, and it looks emptier when just a few people show up.

Sometimes a bigger car requires a bigger parking space.

And none of this discussion touches on what brought this topic into my consciousness. Look at the photo above. I have been doing this lately for lunch. I am not penny pinching as much as I am keeping it cool, no cooking involved. But there are two things on the relish tray (plate) that are not good when bigger. Tomatoes that are bigger? If the right type, those huge ones are just more deliciousness. The blue cheese dressing that I use as a dip could have bigger chunks of cheese, and I would love it. But those people that sell full-sized carrots that are cut in the length of baby carrots do not understand the concept of baby carrots. Turn them into carrot sticks or slices, or spiralize them, but not pretend these thick carrots are bigger baby carrots. And the pickles are supposed to be sweet gerkins. To pickle makers out there, gerkins are small pickles, the smaller the better for the crunch. On this plate, there is only one that I would call a gerkin. One is marginal, and the others are too big. You get the same flavor, but not the crunch. And biting into a bigger one releases an overload of juices. The sweetness balance is thus far from ideal.

I guess what I am saying is that the third Scripture above applies.  Be content in all circumstances, even if you are on a diet, and the hostess gives you the bigger piece of cake.  Be polite.  Smile.  And do a few more exercises when you get home. I am still working off the donut binge because the hostess at a fellowship at church bought too many. Hey, she wanted us to eat more, and I was just trying to help…

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.