When personalized license plates were introduced in Illinois, the Department of Motor Vehicles received over 1,000 requests for the number “1”. The state official whose job it was to approve requests said, “I am not about to assign it to someone and disappoint a thousand people.” What was his solution? He assigned the number to himself.
A little boy and a little girl were riding a mechanical horse in a shopping mall. The little boy, who was riding in front, turned to the little girl and said, “If one of us would get off, there would be more room for me.”
Nowhere is man’s creativity more apparent than in his ability to discover new and original ways to commit the original sin. It all began in the Garden of Eden when the devil convinced Adam and Eve that he had found a way for them to move God over and become “Number 1.” And the beat goes on-and we keep looking for ways to succeed where Adam and Eve failed. We look for ways to be first on everyone else’s priority list. We look for ways to be first in line. We look for ways to be first at the checkout counter. We look for ways to be the first ones getting out of the parking lot. We look for ways to win in the game of “first come, first served.” But these are mere symptoms of the real transgression. In the case of Christians, our creativity as original sinners is revealed most clearly when we look for ways to be known as disciples of Christ without following His example.
“We are Number 1! We are Number 1!” All well and good, perhaps, to hear the chant ringing out from football fans, but when we hear it ringing out from our hearts, it is all pride and imagination. Remember, therefore, “He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts” (Luke 1:51).
————–From A Treasury of Bible Illustrations
