Magazine for November 2009
Clearly misunderstood!
Last week I was talking to my cousins ( A. Creapher and H. R. Pearce, both of whom contribute this column occasionally) about oxymorons. You know – phrases like “Numb Feeling”; “Plastic Glasses”; “Fresh Frozen” “Exact Estimate”; and “Good Grief”.
An oxymoron is a two-word phrase which contradicts itself. Other good examples are “Working Holiday”; “Negative Growth”; “Unbiased Opinion”; “Oddly Appropriate” and “Clearly Misunderstood”.
There are also religious oxymorons. What about “Lukewarm Christian”? These two words simply don’t go together. In Revelation 3:16 this is presented rather dramatically! “Because you are lukewarm – neither hot nor cold – I am about to spit you out of my mouth”.
And then there’s “Serve Two Masters”. (OK, so that’s three words). in Matthew 6:24 we are reminded that “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other”.
This doesn’t mean that we are perfect Christians (in fact, “Perfect Christian” is also an oxymoron!). It just means that when we come to Christ, we must be willing to give him our whole selves, not just part of ourselves.
When Jesus comes into your life, he can’t become “one more thing”. Instead, he wants to take over. As St Paul wrote in his second letter to the Corinthians (5:17), “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”.
That’s not lukewarm. That’s red hot!
P. E. Archer