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Daily Devotional –From Lonnie’s Pen
Superstitious Pigeons
B.F. Skinner was right – you can make a pigeon superstitious. We usually associate superstition with black cats crossing our path, the number 13, or walking under ladders, but these are merely examples of ways people are superstitious. To be superstitious is to have a compulsion to take an action which has no actual effect on the desired outcome.
All you have to do to make a pigeon superstitious is to put him in a cage and wait for him to do some act such as bobbing his head or spinning around and then feed him at the second he does that thing. In time he will start doing that act over and over in the hope that food will appear.
Aren’t you glad that you are smarter than a pigeon? We have no irrational beliefs which in reality have no effect on a desired outcome. After spending a lifetime around good people, I can say that we sometimes are superstitious. Some folks have told me that whenever they attend a game of their favorite team, the team always wins. One lady told me that when her team falls behind, if she will start doing laundry, her team starts winning. Baseball players put their hats on in certain ways and call them “rally caps” in the belief that wearing the cap in that way will cause them to win. I knew one great Christian lady who drove the long way home rather than cross the path of a black cat.
Honestly, these are not harmful superstitions. I have worn my lucky suit a time or two. Superstitions that do bother me are those where people believe that God has spoken, when in fact he has not. “Back in the day,” people said if you went to the movie on Sunday you could not go to heaven. Some believed that if you played pool, you could not go to heaven. I know one preacher who was rebuked in a men’s meeting for playing golf.
To believe something is right or wrong when God has not spoken makes us superstitious pigeons. We are doing a little dance and saying this is what will cause God to save us. We need to have our beliefs firmly grounded in what God says and not some belief that is not found in His Word. Paul told those listening to his sermon, “I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious.” (Acts 17:22 KJV). To be grounded in teachings which are not God’s clear teaching is to be “too superstitious” and makes us like superstitious pigeons.
Lonnie Davis |
Begin with a Smile The busiest day of the week is “Manana.”
Reflecting on Today’s Text: All of God’s followers would be refreshed if we only remember this great fact. God helps us and He helps us daily. For that we ought to give praise to Him. He is our God and our Savior.
Today’s Bible Chapter
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