Running With Scissors

There are some great phrases associated with childhood. One of those is, “Don’t run with scissors!”  Can’t you see it? Cute kid, excited about an art project, grabbing the scissors and waving them overhead as he runs without a care in the world to work on his masterpiece! “I’ve got the scissors! I am ready to create!”

The phrase “Don’t run with scissors” could easily be changed to “Be careful how you live”.  It’s not about the running or the scissors, it is about the combination.  Running with scissors implies carelessness and a lack of attention to the things going on around you.  People do this all the time. They do things in their car that make you think that they believe they are in the privacy of their own home.  People talk on cell phones and text everywhere they go, no matter where they are or who they are with, as if the person seated across from them doesn’t exist.  They thoughtlessly wander through life without a single thought for the people walking along next to them. I once saw a video that showed someone so busy texting while walking that she didn’t see a giant fountain and fell right into it! This is an extreme lack of attention to the things around you.  God tells us to be careful how we live, and that doesn’t include running with scissors or walking around without care for the moment we are in. 

Ephesians 5:15& 17 say, “So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do.”  This is a follow up to a list of things that are not part of careful living. It is the exhortation to be imitators of God and to live a life led by the power of the Holy Spirit in you. 

How do we understand what the Lord wants us to do? Pay attention to His Word. Pay attention to the way he is working out his plans in you and in the people around you. Not paying attention leads to carelessness in the way we live our lives and in the way we treat others. 

Are you living with reckless abandon waving scissors of apathy as you go?  “…don’t live like fools, don’t act thoughtlessly…” Don’t run with scissors.

Be careful how you live.