RPM, Volume 11, Number 27, July 5 to July 11 2009

It's not about elbows!

By Jim Williams



Editor's Note: We all have thoughts — some good - some bad, but nonetheless they are thoughts. Our thoughts should be reflected upon and dealt with biblically (Rom. 12:1-3; Gal. 6:3; Phil. 3:12-17; Phil. 4:8-9; 2 Pet. 3:1, etc.). ‘Just Thinkin Out Loud' (spelling of ‘thinkin'' is purposeful) is a series of thoughts that are being made public. You may or may not agree with all of the thoughts you read in this series, but it will help all of us to discuss them — out loud. The hope of the author and editors at IIIM is that this will assist all of us to begin personal reflection upon our own thoughts and compare them with God's perspective in Holy Scripture. Readers are encouraged to use small discussion groups and/or our RPM forum for any irenic discussion(s) of these specific thoughts and others they may bring about.
Did you ever go to a movie theater and notice that there is only one armrest for every two elbows? Of course, an elbow has an armrest all its own at the ends, but in the middle, its timeshare, space share or war while two people are seated adjacent to each other. People watching movies have to compromise over the armrest in order to have peace between them.

But don't carmakers always put in their advertising the phrase, "plenty of elbow room?" It seems part of the American Dream is having all you want, and then some. Elbowroom is just a sign of that great American Dream. But it's not available at the movie theater.

The luxury of "elbow room" is a right, it seems. But at some points, it would appear to be not a right, but a luxury, which indeed it is. In an airliner, you have to pay for a first class or business section seat for elbowroom. When you are watching a movie the only way to guarantee elbowroom is to rent the movie.

People get too wrapped in the little things, when the bigger picture says there are much more pressing needs. That personal expression and comfort are supposed to be low priority items runs counter to the human desire. But didn't God say, "it is better to give than to receive"? Sure doesn't feel as good giving, though, or doesn't it?

It's not about elbows, really. It's about giving up personal space for the sake of people and their eternal destinies. It's about letting some things go, so someone else can just have room to live, and let them see a glimpse of heaven. It's about giving up time and energy to see that they learn about God.

Sometimes you can have elbowroom, sometimes you can't.

Tell me what you think, I'm just thinking out loud!



This article is provided as a ministry of Third Millennium Ministries (Thirdmill). If you have a question about this article, please email our Theological Editor.

Subscribe to RPM

RPM subscribers receive an email notification each time a new issue is published. Notifications include the title, author, and description of each article in the issue, as well as links directly to the articles. Like RPM itself, subscriptions are free. To subscribe to RPM, please select this link.

http_x_rewrite_url /magazine/article.asp?link=http:^^reformedperspectives.org^articles^jim_williams^jim_williams.31.html&at=Its%20not%20about%20elbows! thispage server_name reformedperspectives.org script_name /magazine/article.asp query_string link=http:^^reformedperspectives.org^articles^jim_williams^jim_williams.31.html&at=Its%20not%20about%20elbows! url /magazine/article.asp all_http HTTP_CONNECTION:Keep-Alive HTTP_ACCEPT:*/* HTTP_ACCEPT_ENCODING:gzip, br HTTP_COOKIE:ASPSESSIONIDQQBDTSBB=IPNNPNDDMCAPKLEEIDPMCCBO; viewport=stab HTTP_HOST:reformedperspectives.org HTTP_REFERER:http://reformedperspectives.org/magazine/article.asp/link/http:^^reformedperspectives.org^articles^jim_williams^jim_williams.31.html/at/Its%20not%20about%20elbows! HTTP_USER_AGENT:Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; ClaudeBot/1.0; [email protected]) HTTP_CF_RAY:8e6321074f6f61c7-ORD HTTP_CF_IPCOUNTRY:US HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR:18.119.107.159 HTTP_X_FORWARDED_PROTO:https HTTP_CF_VISITOR:{"scheme":"https"} HTTP_CF_CONNECTING_IP:18.119.107.159 HTTP_CDN_LOOP:cloudflare; loops=1 HTTP_X_REWRITE_URL:/magazine/article.asp?link=http:^^reformedperspectives.org^articles^jim_williams^jim_williams.31.html&at=Its%20not%20about%20elbows! HTTP_X_ORIGINAL_URL:/magazine/article.asp?link=http:^^reformedperspectives.org^articles^jim_williams^jim_williams.31.html&at=Its%20not%20about%20elbows!