Tick, Tick, Tick

by Pastor Tom

“We are afflicted in every way, but no crushed, perplexed, but not driven to despair, persecuted, but no forsaken, struck down, but not destroyed, always carrying in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.” -2 Corinthians 4:8-10

There used to be a fellow on television all the time named John Cameron Swayze. He didn’t have a television show that I know of, but he did do a lot of commercials for Timex watches. The Timex watch came out in 1946 and it sold for $6.95, which even back in those days was pretty inexpensive for a watch. The combination of low price, reliability and a great advertising campaign let to incredible sales.

The commercials all had pretty much the same theme. A Timex watch would be severely punished in some impressive demonstration. Once, one was secured to an outboard motor propeller. In another ad, they strapped one to the leg of a race horse. They did dozens of horrific things to those watches. At the end of the commercial, they would retrieve the watch and then hold it before the camera. Lo and behold, the watch still worked. Mr. Swayze would then boldly proclaim, “It takes a licking and keeps on ticking!”

Everybody kind of hoped that just once, the watch would fail the test. Finally, in one commercial, just to show that the Timex people had a sense of humor, they placed a watch on the ground and had an elephant step on it. When they retrieved the watch it was smashed to pieces. It was a great bit, and probably did as much to endear their product to consumers as any of the other commercials.

The Timex watch was, and I suppose still is, a great product. Everybody could afford to own one. It did its job very well, and it could take a real pounding and continue to be reliable. Paul and his fellow disciples in the New Testament were much the same. They were afflicted, perplexed, persecuted and struck down. But they plowed ahead. Their attitude and outlook remained positive. They could still be counted upon. They weren’t wimps. They weren’t crybabies. They didn’t run home with their tails between their legs when things got difficult.

They didn’t start whining and making excuses. They kept on keeping on.

I pray that we can be as reliable. It seems today that so many are ready to throw in the towel at the first sign of adversity. This happened. That happened. So and so said this. So and so did that. They’re discouraged, destroyed, wiped out, finished. Too bad. Too sad!

For those of us who claim the name of Jesus, and have a call upon our lives to serve God and others, may it be said of us, “They took a licking, and kept on ticking.”