Symbol: “Use
No Hooks”
Lesson: Ignorance
is no excuse
Illustration:
Years ago, someone submitted to Reader’s Digest a story for the section “Humor
in Uniform.” Supposedly during World War II, Japanese POWs were asked to sort
boxes. (Whether or not the story was accurate, I am not able to verify.) Bottom
line, there seemed to be some misunderstanding and after the boxes were sorted,
it was discovered that the POWs had arranged boxes by “Use No Hooks” and “This
Side Up,” along with other useless identifiers. Whether this was done in
ignorance or cunning was not revealed. Bottom line, even if the POWs were 100%
innocently following what they thought were the instructions, they in fact were
not accomplishing the intended goal.
Notes: This well illustrates Jesus’ words at Matthew 7:21 that not everyone claiming to be Christ’s follower, no matter how sincere, are approved. In these cases though, those who wrongly thought they had done the right thing, went to extensive lengths to do what they thought they should. Just like Jesus they expelled demons, prophesied, and performed other “powerful works.” But that wasn’t what Jesus wanted. There were certain “fruits” (outward works) that would demonstrate “doing the will of the Father,” that they had completely missed. Jesus’ words indicated that he wasn’t amused and wouldn’t overlook their actions.
