Information Related to "Are You a Frog in a Pot?"
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An
old adage says that if you put a frog into a pot of boiling water, it
will leap out right away to escape the danger. However, if you put that
same frog into a kettle that is filled with water that is mild and pleasant,
and then you gradually increase the heat in the kettle until
it starts boiling, the frog will not become aware of the threat until
it is too late (cooked frog!).
I'll have to admit I've never tried to "slow cook" a frog, but the tale
makes for a good lesson. We have to be careful about slowly changing
trends in our environment, not just the sudden changes. The story is
a warning to encourage people to pay attention not just to obvious threats
or influences, but also to the subtle, more slowly developing ones.
God gives similar warnings to His people: "Be careful of the pot you choose to live in" (a paraphrase of God's instruction to be careful of the influence of the world in which we live).
We live "in" the world
In praying to God the Father about the Church, Jesus Christ acknowledged that His followers must continue to live in the world. He doesn't expect (or desire) us to become hermits on a mountaintop or in some remote, dark cave!
Yet He expressed great concern about protecting the Church from the evil influence that Satan has on this world. Notice His words to His Father: "I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world" (John 17:15-16).
Here Jesus acknowledges that we have to continue to live in a world that is under the influence of values and a power that is simply not of God. He acknowledges that we are living (physically) in the world, but that we should not be (philosophically) of the world. That, my friends, is a challenge, but one that God knows we can, with His help, accomplish.
Related Information on UCG Sites:
Table of Contents that includes "Are You a Frog in a Pot?"
Other Articles by Doug Horchak
Teens and peer influence: