Common Sense!

"Common sense is the knack of seeing things as they are, and doing things as they ought to be done."

-Calvin E. Stowe

"The person who strays from common sense will end up in the company of the dead."

-Proverbs 21:16

Helloooo! Have you ever read package warnings and wondered, "What were they thinking? Were they thinking?" Here are a few somewhat goofy warnings for some products you may recognize:

An automobile windshield cover warns, "Caution: Never drive with cover on your windshield." Hmmmm!

This one is great from a label on children's cough medicine, "Do not drive or operate heavy machinery."

Tesco's Teramiso has this warning printed on the bottom of a dessert package, "Do not turn upside down."

A Pop Tarts warning says, "Warning: Filling May Be Hot When Heated."

Sign at Railroad Station, "Beware! To touch these wires is instant death. Anyone found doing so will be persecuted."

Here's a real winner found in a safety handbook for Cayman Airlines, "If you are seated in an exit aisle and are unable to read this, please ask a stewardess to reseat you."

A windshield washer fluid warning, "Cannot be made non-poisonous."

The warning on a hammer, "Caution: Do not use this hammer to strike any solid object."

A coffee cup warning says, "Caution: Hot beverages are hot!"

A warning on a microwave oven, "Do not use for drying pets."

"Do not use orally." This warning is found on, of all places . . . a toilet bowl cleaning brush.

A hotel shower cap, "Fits one head only."

Christmas lights from China explain, "For indoor or outdoor use only." ????

This is one of my favorites found on Korean Kitchen Knives, "Keep out of children." Ouch!

We certainly do live in a world where common sense is not very common any more. Like the two neighbors who were attempting to trim the top of a hedge between their properties: they decided to use a rotary mower! Yep, that's right! One guy on each side of the hedge holding the mower at the desired height would be simple enough to quickly take care of the job. But it didn't. The mower slipped resulting in several fingers quickly removed from one man's hand, sending him to the local emergency room, and surgery. Common sense? I don't think so.

But as Paul Harvey would say, "And now the rest of the story." The man who owned the mower and lost the fingers, sued the mower manufacturer and won the lawsuit! Why? The judge ruled that the manufacturer should have had written instructions in the operating manual stating: "Warning: This mower may not be used to trim hedges." How did that judge become a judge? Common sense, where are you?

It's also common sense to know that somewhere out there is a creator, designer, and maker of all we see around us. "The heavens declare the glory of God. The skies display his marvelous craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known. They speak without a sound or a word; their voice is silent in the skies; yet their message has gone out to all the earth, and their words to all the world" (Psalm 19:1-4).

"May you be blessed by the Lord, who made heaven and earth" (Psalm 115:15).

Common sense declares that all we see around us is not the result of two masses of nothing colliding in outer space, billions of years ago, and producing everything! Ain't no way!

Common sense reminds us that there is a God. (Common sense has a little help here from God.) "God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart" (Ecclesiastes 3:11). We know there's a God, we do. It's programmed into our souls and whether we admit it or not, we know.

Common sense also tells us that Jesus is real. I know there are people who do not believe the Bible so forget about the Bible just for a second. Even without the Gospels, even without the Bible, Jesus was an historical figure.

Josephus, a very important Jewish historian of the first century wrote,

"About this time there lived Jesus, a wise man, if indeed one ought to call him a man. For he was one who wrought surprising feats and was a teacher of such people as accept the truth gladly. He won over many Jews and many of the Greeks. He was the Christ. When Pilate, upon hearing him accused by men of the highest standing among us, had condemned him to be crucified, those who had in the first place come to love him did not give up their affection for him. On the third he he appeared to them restored to life, for the prophets of God had prophesied these and countless other marvelous things about him. And the tribe of Christians, so called after him, has still to this day not disappeared" (Flavius Josephus, Complete Works, Antiquities of The Jews, 379).

Remember, this was written by a man, a Pharisee, who was not a follower of Jesus. He was a historian! There are other historians as well who reinforce the life of Christ, his life, and his death: Thallus, Julius Africanus, Tertullian, Phlegon, and others. According to history, Jesus was a real man, had followers later called Christians, was executed surrounded by earthquakes and darkness in the middle of the day, and lived again. Common sense tells me this Jesus was real and he did what the Bible says he did. And he is God!

Common sense tells me that the world needs Jesus. We are in such a mess and things are getting worse ever day! "For all have sinned; and fall short of God's glorious standard" (Romans 3:23). Look around! Things are not getting better. We need a Savior! We need Jesus. "The human heart is most deceitful and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?" (Jeremiah 17:9).

"For the truth about God is known to them instinctively. God has put this knowledge in their hearts. From the time the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky and all that God made. They can clearly see his invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse whatsoever for not knowing God" (Romans 1:19-20).

It's common sense!