Have you found things on the beach that don’t belong? I love to visit the ocean and listen to the waves while hunting for treasures. I look for shells, mole crabs, fish, seaweed, and sand pipers close to shore. I also scan the deep water for manatee, dolphin, pelicans, large fish, and other marine life. The ocean water carries natural things to the beach, but also manmade items that litter and detract from the beauty all around. Plastic straws, bottle caps, fishing line, cups, and bags float in the water and are left on the shore at high tide. These plastic items can be dangerous to animals and humans, and so I always collect a small pile before I leave the beach.

 

Pollution isn’t just plastic waste. It can be anything that contaminates and harms something in its pure form. There are all kinds of contaminants in our environment. We can throw away waste, compost food scraps, and fix and reuse things. This helps clean up our environment and protect the beauty that God has made. When I pick up a plastic bag off the beach or from the water, I am mindful of sea turtles that love to eat jellyfish and may confuse the bag for one. This harmful substitute could cause the sea turtle’s death, so I always grab those. Fishing lines can get tangled around birds and other sea life and can have a hook attached, so I’m careful when I collect them. Maybe you can be a helper the next time you go to the beach!

 

What happens when people add words to change the meaning of the Bible? The true message of the Bible gets polluted.

 

Deuteronomy 4:2 says, “Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the Lord your God that I give you.”

 

To guard against pollution of God’s messages, we can study the Bible and know it well.  You can start by reading it. Then you may study its context. Studying the context means looking at verses within their passages, and in light of the Bible’s big story of redemption instead of looking at a single verse alone. You can read different translations, look at the original language, and read commentary from Bible scholars. When you are a student of God’s Word, you become so familiar with the words and their meaning that you quickly recognize when the text or meaning has been changed by someone.

 

Jesus said in Matthew 5:18, “For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished”.

Dear God, thank you for giving us the Bible. Help us to study it and become wise so that we can tell lies from truth.

Fun Fact:

Seabins were designed to collect floating trash in the ocean. Submersible pumps, found inside the bins, draw in water, trash, and oils into a net so that waste can be removed and the water can be cleaned.

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