I heard the other day that it was so cold that teenagers were pulling their pants up! It was so windy (in North Dakota) that I saw a chicken lay the same egg 4 times! There was a fisherman who caught this 400 pound rainbow trout from his swimming pool! Okay, you get the point, there are exaggerations that run from realistic to unrealistic. Most border on the space in between the two. Sometimes it's difficult to understand what is okay to exaggerate and what is just plain stupid. For instance, people who don't know the Lord, when they hear about a miracle claim it's something other than what it actually is...a miracle.to the unbeliever and to the world in general are exaggerations, imaginings, or unbelievable. While believers know this to not be the case, the world can and will believe what it will. I have exaggerated. You have exaggerated. It's a part of being a human being. It wasn't really all my doing that this went right or wrong. Nor was it all my fault that this went right or wrong. We have an innate ability to try to claim that which is good or positive as something we thought up or did ourselves. After all our media force feeds us this stuff every day. "I invented the internet." and "I was there" come to mind in recent years.
Surely, God wouldn't send people to hell? No, God wouldn't. Surely, God wouldn't let an innocent child die? No, God wouldn't. Surely, God wouldn't condemn those who haven't heard about Jesus? No, God wouldn't. Exaggeration is based on fear and insecurity. We seek someone to blame for the bad and take credit for the good. It's all about exaggeration. The Christian is asked to not exaggerate. James tells us to let our yes be yes and our no be no. Translated: yes and no answers. No, God won't send people to hell...that's people's choice. No, there are no exceptions. It's all about our choice. I didn't cause the most recent war. Nor did I prevent the most recent war. If someone has told you I am responsible, they are exaggerating. My choices may have contributed but they weren't the cause. The same goes for our pasts. I didn't choose to have my childhood as it was. I did choose what I did with what I was given. To say that I'm to blame for being abused is absurd! Yet, that's what perpetrators say about their victims. Thus the victim becomes the perpetrator in their minds. It's just a short exaggeration from there for our society to play the blame game to their advantage and call it normal. Exaggerations are not normal.
I'd love to say that I have never exaggerated. That would be an exaggeration. Wait! That looks more like a lie to me! That's because exaggerations are lies. Telling someone my fish was a foot long when it was six inches is a lie and not an exaggeration. The purpose for exaggerating is to put ourselves in a better light. The purpose in the world is to have us believe something that isn't true. The world takes exaggeration and uses them to tell us that this or that is acceptable and true even when it isn't. We've all had fun with exaggerations. We tell jokes, make fun of people and situations and generally try to be funny. The serious side of exaggeration comes when we believe the lie. That being the assurance of the world that the worlds wisdom is better, greater and more believable than that of God. You can pick the topic. Look around you and examine the world's messages in comparison to the message of the Word of God. Exaggeration will get you whatever you want. Faith in God will get you what you need. Your choice.
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