A Spiritual Lesson In Toon Language: Lesson 45c(d)
Topic: The Seven Deadly Sins III: Gluttony IV - Waste Of Resources
Series: Smurfs, My Little Pony
Episodes: Waste Not, Smurf Not (Smurfs), Fugitive Flowers I, II (My Little Pony)
Lesson PDF link: 45c(d).pdf
Introduction
Have you ever wasted good things or allowed the waste of good things (otherwise known as resources)? I bet that we are all guilty of this if we really want to be honest. This would include getting taken advantage of or throwing away good food because of lack of desire etc. I don't think that for us it is intentional, but it happens. We are going to look at two scenarios in this 4th part of Gluttony and we will have a small discussion and moderate sized Bible Study along the way.
Cartoon Show: "Waste Not, Smurf Not" (The Smurfs):
What did you see in this cartoon? This is a clear case of too much too fast and then a famine, but its at the Smurfs' own making. The Smurfs' weren't responsible in times of plenty, so they were in want later. Handy and Papa were the only responsible ones through the entire thing. The other Smurfs were irresponsible and teach a lesson about what not to do.
We are now going to have a moderate Bible Study on this cartoon.
The Bible States In Proverbs 3: 21-26; 6: 6-11; 21: 20
Proverbs 3: 21-26
21 My son, do not let wisdom and understanding out of your sight, preserve sound judgment and discretion;
22 they will be life for you, an ornament to grace your neck.
23 Then you will go on your way in safety, and your foot will not stumble.
24 When you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.
25 Have no fear of sudden disaster or of the ruin that overtakes the wicked,
26 for the LORD will be at your side and will keep your foot from being snared.
Proverbs 6: 6-11
6 Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!
7 It has no commander, no overseer or ruler,
8 yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.
9 How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep?
10 A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest —
11 and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man.
Proverbs 21: 20
20 The wise store up choice food and olive oil, but fools gulp theirs down
What do you see in these scriptures that help with our cartoon study?
In the cartoon, we see a bumper crop of all sorts of food. We see that the Smurfs have a new machine that cuts their work to nearly zero. However, this machine turns into a bad idea evidently because the Smurfs now take for granted their blessing of food and plenty and are now doing nothing but being senseless and wasteful. They are not wise and soon pay for this by being in want. They do not remember the lesson from the ant and the wise from the scriptures, and certainly could have been faced with hunger and poverty for lack of food if it weren't for Papa's planning ahead of time before it would have been too late for a long time.
Now for the debut of a cartoon series called My Little Pony for these cartoon lessons. Thanks to my friend Collin McSweeney for the donation that bought this and helped to make this lesson possible.
Cartoon Show II --And now, the My Little Pony Episode "Fugitive Flowers I":
What did you see in this episode? Well, the first thing we see is a character named Posey doing some gardening which is her specialty. She is so loving and trusting that she gets taken advantage of and lied to and doesn't give the Crabnasties much of a chance to prove their case about the Flories. However, it looks bad as the Crabnasties are destroying some of the forest. The Crabnasties are evidently police and they feel like they must clear this area so that there are no hiding places. Once the trusting and unwitting Posey traps these police, then the real intent of these Flories is found out, but now there is a pretty huge problem as these Flories start acting like who they really are; that being weeds.
Now, Posey can't understandably know who to trust without discernment. I think we have all been here, being taken advantage of by parasitic people isn't hard to do and we all have to look out. Now, the scripture for this part of the cartoon is about praying against the untrustworthy; I can see it in the case of the Flories. Definitely, there is a good deal of parallel to regular life in general because this situation comes up a lot, of course not in this way, but looking out for tricks is unfortunately part of life.
The Bible States In Psalms 5
1 Listen to my words, LORD, consider my lament.
2 Hear my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray.
3 In the morning, LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly.
4 For you are not a God who is pleased with wickedness; with you, evil people are not welcome.
5 The arrogant cannot stand in your presence. You hate all who do wrong;
6 you destroy those who tell lies. The bloodthirsty and deceitful you, LORD, detest.
7 But I, by your great love, can come into your house; in reverence I bow down toward your holy temple.
8 Lead me, LORD, in your righteousness because of my enemies —
9 Not a word from their mouth can be trusted; their heart is filled with malice. Their throat is an open grave; with their tongues they tell lies.
10 Declare them guilty, O God! Let their intrigues be their downfall. Banish them for their many sins, for they have rebelled against you.
11 But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you.
12 Surely, LORD, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield.
Cartoon Show III "Fugitive Flowers II" (My Little Pony):
What did you see in this episode?
The Flories' plans are quite visible now. They want to waste in a very gluttonous fashion everything they see and especially the very rich resources of the garden and then of Ponyland and Dream Valley. This plan was born out of deceit and selfishness and is much like our next scriptures we are going to read.
The Bible States In Matthew 13: 24-30; 36-43
24 Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field.
25 But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away.
26 When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.
27 “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’
28 “‘An enemy did this,’ he replied. “The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’
29 “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them.
30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”
36 Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.”
37 He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man.
38 The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one,
39 and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.
40 “As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age.
41 The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil.
42 They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear.
Now, we have to understand that the Flories were beautiful and the Crabnasties weren't as much. However, the real beauty or lack thereof lies in the truth of who these are. In our passage, this enemy which is the devil clearly has a vendetta against the farmer which is The Son Of Man (In which case is Jesus Himself). The harvesters (the angels) could be seen loosely as kind of like the Crabnasties that are the police because they are responsible for uprooting the Flories' wasteful plans. The Flories would most likely get a death sentence or at least life in prison in my opinion. All these weeds are good for the way they are is to be eliminated somehow. The devil will get much the same fate of a prison without escape and be destroyed. We also have to look at the Flories' other intention. This is to make the Crabnasties look like the bad guys. This is what the devil will try as well, lying about those faithful to Christ.
The Bible States In II Corinthians 11: 1-4; 12-14
1 I hope you will put up with me in a little foolishness. Yes, please put up with me!
2 I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him.
3 But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
4 For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.
12 And I will keep on doing what I am doing in order to cut the ground from under those who want an opportunity to be considered equal with us in the things they boast about.
13 For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ.
14 And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.
15 It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.
What have we learned?
What I have seen is that the devil tries to inject evil and trouble in our work all the time by putting good looking things in our way that are actually traps. The devil's plan is to make sure that some if not all wheat gets poisoned and then turn into as good as weeds and thus take a lot of us that are supposed to be Christians with him to his doom. The good news is God won't tolerate that with those that are truly growing up the way He wants. We need to keep alert so we won't get poisoned by the weeds in our life. The devil himself is a trap because he lies to us all the time and looks like an angel of light, of course he is the darkest that dark can be. The devil wants to waste our resources that are supposed to be for Jesus, so witnesses will be weakened or eliminated, lives ruined and true beauty destroyed and turned ugly. In other words, the devil wants the saved to be lost and the lost to stay lost and both deceived until it's too late. God's plan is for salvation to abound, the lost healed and saved, and the healed and saved to stay that way until victory is won at the hand of Jesus Christ our Lord. God wants us to live and be secure, safe, and sound in the Lord Jesus Christ for all eternity. Lies will never win and the beauty of God's truth will be everywhere and we who work for The Lord Jesus Christ need to be a part of the plan that God has for us which is helping to strengthen the believers' faith in Christ and to win the lost to Christ and then strengthen them however God has His workers to do this task and we mustn't waste any opportunity or resource to do so. Amen.