How Many Plates Are You Spinning?

As a kid growing up, I remember seeing the juggler who would spin plates. They would place an individual plate on a thin stick and spin it; then repeat this process over and over. Periodically they had to return to a previous plate and give it an extra spin to keep them from falling off the stick. So the idea was to see how many plates they could keep spinning before one fell and broke.

Do you ever feel like this juggler? We all have our plates: jobs (sometimes multiple plates here), spouses, kids, friends, spirituality, hobbies and the list goes on. It seems our lives can get to the place we are running from plate to plate, giving it just enough to keep it spinning, then run to the next one. Unfortunately, there is a limit to how many plates we can spin and how long we can keep spinning. How do you know those limits? It is when the plate falls and breaks.

One of the first plates that usually breaks is our spiritual relationship; we find that we are either do not “have” time or are too tired. Matthew 13, Jesus speaks the parable of the sower. In this story, seed is sown on four types of soil: hard, stony, thorny and good. The applicable part to us now is the thorny soil. It states that the seed begins to grow, but then thorns grow around it and choke it out. In verse 22, Jesus gives the insights of this scenario: The seed is the word of God (consider it our spirituality) and he defines the thorns as “the cares of life” and the “deceitfulness of riches.”

The application could be something like this; the “cares of life” are the “things” we are busy doing just to live. They are not necessarily evil or sin, but the are so time consuming they produce pressure or stress on us. It is the never ending list of social engagements, the multiple practices for various sports or arts performances, the non-stop business meetings we believe are necessary, and the list goes on and on. Add to this the laundry, grocery shopping, cleaning the house, yard work, car maintenance etc. All these add up to the care or weight of daily living.

The “deceitfulness of riches” are the wealth and “things” we think we need to possess. We ceaselessly pursue them because we believe they will some how satisfy, complete or fulfill who we are. (Now i know we may not say this, but it is really what we think deep down.) In fact there is a whole industry that their purpose is to show us how we are not complete unless drive certain cars, wear the right clothes, use the latest technology, drink or eat the “in” foods or use the certain cosmetics or personal hygiene products.

What makes these deceitful, is that we think we need them (we rationalize) and once they are obtained, the expected fulfillment is short lived, so we move on to the next. We are always pursuing that mirage on the horizon.

Jesus warns that these two things choke out our spirituality because they become the focus of our daily lives. The consume our time, energy and focus, leaving us at the end of the day, maybe even a life, exhausted and empty.

The answer - reevaluate our purpose. Refocus on Him and His purpose. When you are in alignment with what He created you for, you can learn to say no. You will not be consumed with the mundane of life and your fulfillment or completeness will come from Him.

The Captivity Of Thoughts

Thoughts are powerful things: they can be liberating and empowering, or limiting and demoralizing.

A common story told regarding the captivating power of thoughts is that of the training of elephants. As it goes, young elephants are taken and using heavy chains are tethered to stakes driven deep into the ground. The young elephant continually pulls and struggles against the chain, eventually giving up and “learning” it cannot get free. Once this has happened, even as a full-grown elephant, it can be tethered with a rope and stake because the elephant “believes” they cannot get free.

We find the same process happens in our lives when God sends us illumination of His kingdom and it’s power. We have a series of thoughts that affect how we process this illumination; unfortunately, many times these thoughts limit what God desires to do with in us.

What is the source of these limiting thoughts? They are from the traditions of men. Speaking of the effects of the Pharisee’s’ teachings, Jesus said they were “nullifying and making void and of no effect [the authority of] the Word of God through your tradition, which you [in turn] hand on” (MK 7:13 AMP). They were nullifying the authority of the Word of God. Now how can that happen? Isn’t God’s word all-powerful? Yet they were rendering it useless. The key to grasping this is in the word “traditions.”

The word used for traditions is paradosis and means “giving over, giving up, surrender.”* It derived from paradidoomi which according to Thayer’s means: “to give into the hands (of another),” “to give over into (one's) power or use.” This word is used 121x and in 100 of them it us used in the negative sense of taking or handing over into captivity.

So the principle here is that the traditions of men create thought processes that take us into captivity. This captivity of thoughts, prevent us from see the truth or illumination of the Word of God, thus limiting its effectiveness in our lives.


*For more about the definition of tradition see blog “What Stops Us From Being Apostolic?” our book Apostolic Authority, Every Believer’s Privilege.