I tried shaking him off. I tried coaxing him off. I tried distracting him away. I tried encouraging him to go someplace more appropriate. I was trying to clean my car, but I just couldn’t get the bee to leave my bright blue fluffy dashboard duster. He apparently thought it was the biggest flower he had ever buzzed onto.
This bee was so enamored, captivated, mesmerized, and drawn to a lifeless blue rag, that even the real smell of our pollen-filled gardenia blossoms couldn’t lure him away. So I gave up trying to help him and set the duster with the bee attached aside. I figured he’d realize how useless it was and leave for something that could give him life. The next day, I was astounded when I discovered the bee, dead as a doornail, still clinging to the duster.
How could some creature cling to something so worthless, even to the point of death? How could it fix its eyes on a death trap and ignore the garden of real life with real flowers all around it? How could it miss what God had provided for something lifeless and fake? My bee friend’s pursuit of the worthless at the expense of the precious is not unlike the majority of mankind and even people in the church. To avoid the same tragic outcome, we need to bee-ware of the enticement of the enemy, bee-aware of lifeless pursuits, and bee-where God wants us. So how do we find only God’s genuine instead of the artificial lures and forbidden fruit that bring death?
Avoid Lifeless Traditions Traditions can be helpful or harmful. When traditions substitute for or block the active presence of God or revelation of His Word, it is devoid of life.
You disregard God’s commandments but cling to human tradition. You are simply rejecting God’s laws and trampling them under your feet for the sake of tradition. Mark 7:8-9
And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the new wine would burst the wineskins, spilling the wine and ruining the skins. Luke 5:37
Our traditions of ritualistic, formulaic, and legalistic religion cannot flex with the manifest movement of God that keeps us flowing with His Spirit.
Fend off Familiarity - Inertia is a powerful force. When we find something we are familiar with, even if it doesn’t give life or bring us closer to God, our tendency is to stick with it rather than what God is doing. One of the most damaging phrases in the church is, “We’ve always done this way.” God said through Isaiah, “I am about to do something new. It is beginning to happen even now. Don’t you see it coming?” Isaiah 43:19 Familiarity can keep us from seeing what God is doing, block His miraculous power, and lead to unbelief, like when Jesus tried with limited success to minister among people in his hometown who were too familiar with him. Mark 6:4-6
Don’t Cling to Comfort—If we want to bring life, we must “get comfortable being uncomfortable.” During these chaotic times, it is more important to be courageous than comfortable. The proverbial frog in the boiling water was comfortable all the way to his death. Jesus told us not to worry about our creature comforts.
“Do not worry about your life. Do not worry about what you are going to eat and drink. Do not worry about what you are going to wear.” Matthew 6:25
The Apostle Paul had been in prison, flogged, and exposed to death again and again. He was whipped, beaten, stoned, shipwrecked, and had been in constant danger. He went without sleep, had gone without food, and been cold and naked. 2 Corinthians 11:23-27 Yet he said,
I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I find myself. Philippians 4:11
Don’t Bow to Idols - In the book of Daniel, King Nebuchadnezzar demanded that people bow down to an idol he had fashioned when they heard music playing from his musicians. Daniel’s friends refused to follow his tune and bow to his idols.
Today, the rulers of the darkness of this world lure us into idolatry: “Everyone is tempted by his own desires as they lure him away and trap him.” James 1:14 Our own desires draw us to the idols created by mesmerizing music stars and media personalities as our screens display lies and deception.
If we pursue Jesus and worship the Lord only, we can resist the jingle-jangle of i-dollar-try, the siren song of fleshly desires, the pop songs of pride, and the sonnets of worldly success. Instead, we can look to the Psalms, worship, praise, and a chorus of godly contentment.
You will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance. Psalm 32:7
Christians throughout the world are threatened and persecuted with social pressure, cancel culture, verbal threats, imprisonment, and martyrdom for not participating in the idolatry of child sacrifice, teen mutilation, medical tyranny, and the LBGTQ+ agenda. When Nebuchadnezzar threatened Daniel's friends with a fiery death for not bowing to his idol, they said:
“If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” Daniel 3:17-18
When they were thrown into the furnace, the formerly furious king was astonished, saying:
“Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods . . . “Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego… They trusted in him and defied the king’s command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God.” Daniel 3:25,28.
Like Daniel’s friends, we can escape the traps of lifeless traditions, creature comforts, familiarity, and idols, knowing that Jesus is our fourth man in the fire. They foreshadowed our victory:
And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. Revelation 12:11
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