John 21:21

Curiosity-Boxes

What shall this man do? John 21:21.

If anybody were to ask me what I thought the most striking thing in the character of boys and girls, do you know what I should reply? Well, I think I should answer, “Curiosity.” Boys and girls are always wanting to know things, they are always asking questions. Of course grown-up people want to know things too, but if you counted the number of questions a grown-up person asked in a day and the number a small boy or girl asked, and compared the two lists, I think you would find that the small boy or girl had asked at least ten questions to every one asked by the grown-up. No wonder that children are often called “curiosity-boxes.”

Why is it that boys and girls are so curious? Well, I think God made them curious so that they might learn things. Have you ever looked into the eyes of a baby? They are just one big question. He seems to be wondering about everything. And as soon as he begins to be able to put words together he asks questions. It is just his way of learning all about the big world into which God has sent him.

Now when some of us older people were about as big as you are, our fathers and mothers used to believe that children should be seen and not heard. I don't know that there wasn't a certain amount of wisdom in that, but the result was that a great many questions we wanted to ask were never answered, and we had to wait and wonder till we could find out the answer for ourselves. I don't think your fathers and mothers are often like that. I fancy they are quite ready to let you ask questions, and that they generally reply to them when they can. But I want you to remember that there are some questions in regard to which you will have to wait for an answer till you are older. Sometimes father and mother refuse to answer our questions and we have to take them on trust and believe that they know best.

Some people talk about curiosity as if it were a wrong thing, but that is a mistake. Most of the big inventions and discoveries are the result of curiosity. Men have wanted to know and prove things, and they have searched and experimented until they were successful. If people had not wanted to find out more than they knew already we might still be savages living in dens and caves. So you see curiosity is not a bad thing in itself. But it may be used in bad or foolish ways. Shall I tell you some of those ways?

Well, first, there is the curiosity that wastes itself in small things that are of no possible account or use. Did you ever hear the story of the man who was so inquisitive that he could never rest till he knew the why and the wherefore of everything? One dark night he was walking home from an evening party and he saw a lamp-post with a sign on the crossbar. It was too high up for him to read in the dark, so he “shinned” up the lamp-post, evening dress and all. What do you think was written on the sign? “Wet paint!”

Now, sometimes boys and girls ask questions just for the sake of asking, and when I hear them I always think of that man who scaled the lamp-post. Only it is generally others who suffer by their curiosity and not themselves. A witty man once said of a certain inquisitive friend, “Talk to him of Jacob's ladder, and he will ask the number of the steps.” And there is often just about as much sense as that in the questions some little people ask.

That kind of curiosity is rather silly, but after all, it does not do very much harm to anyone except that it rather annoys those of whom the questions are asked. But there is another kind of curiosity, which is really harmful. It is undue curiosity about the affairs of other people.

That was the kind of curiosity Peter showed in our text. Jesus had been telling him that one day he should die for his Master's sake, but Peter was not content to know about his own future, he wanted to know, too, what was going to happen to his friend John. And Jesus rebuked him. “What is that to thee?” He asked; “follow thou me.” “I am well able to look after John,” He seemed to say: “trust his future to Me and don't waste your time or energy wondering what will happen to him. Your real concern is to follow Me.”

Now some people are never happy unless they know all about their friends and neighbors. They are always poking their nose into the affairs of others and trying to find out all their secrets. This is a very mean kind of curiosity; there is something very sneaky about it. Don't have anything to do with it. Never search other people's drawers, or read their letters; never listen to conversations you are not intended to overhear, or try to find out the weak spots in your neighbor's character. Be above that sort of thing.

But there is a still more dangerous kind of curiosity the curiosity concerning evil. It was that curiosity that led Eve astray, and it is the same curiosity that has led men and women and boys and girls astray all through the long centuries.

There is a sort of risk and excitement about this curiosity that attracts. People don't want to be bad, but they want to know by experience just a little about badness. They think they are quite able to take care of themselves, and they just want to see how far they can go and come back safely.

Well, I want you to remember two things. First, a great many never come back. Their first taste of evil acts like poison. It is like a match set to a haystack. Soon the whole stack is in a blaze.

Livingstone tells us about a clever dragon-fly in Africa which catches its prey by appealing to its curiosity. When it is in the grub stage it feeds upon ants, and it catches them by putting its head into the ground and waving its tail in the air. The ants come near to examine this strange sight and are immediately seized by the grippers with which the tail is furnished. In the same way a great many people have been ruined just by going to see what evil is like.

And, second, those who do return are never quite the same again. You can't touch pitch without having your hands soiled. You can't associate with evil without being a little less pure. If you do come through safely it will nevertheless leave its mark on your mind and heart and will, and your most bitter regret all your days may be that you ever had anything to do with it.

God gave us that gift of curiosity, boys and girls, so that we might learn things wise and good and true. Be curious about things that are worthy of your curiosity. Be curious about the highest things. Be curious above all to know more of God and of His love, and He will reveal Himself to you and teach you all that it is good for you to know.