6As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,7rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in itwith thanksgiving.8Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.
The Message translation says this:
8Watch out for people who try to dazzle you with big words and intellectual double-talk. They want to drag you off into endless arguments that never amount to anything. They spread their ideas through the empty traditions of human beings and the empty superstitions of spirit beings. But that's not the way of Christ.
This is a great verse for Friday the 13th, because that very date has superstition swirling around it - and the number 13 has sinister meaning for people, to the extent that many tall buildings do not have a 13th floor and planes omit a row 13. And, while we may not avoid the number or stay away from black cats or not walk under ladders, perhaps we have practices that we engage in or things we fear, that have no logical explanation, but we perceive them to be unlucky or outright harmful. If our lives are committed to Christ, then we can trust Him to hold us in the palm of His hands, in the shadow of His wings, we can abide in perfect peace and recognize that even when bad things happen - and they will - God is faithful to us and cause even those things to work for our good.
In 1st Timothy chapter 4, we see some verses that help us reject superstition and a believe in luck - good or bad:
7But reject profane and old wives' fables, and exercise yourself toward godliness.8For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.
Early this morning, Flight 666 on Finnair took off from Copenhagen to Helsinki. The 3-letter airline symbol for Helsinki, of course, is HEL. So, on Friday the 13th, you could conceivably travel from on Flight 666 to HEL. And, you could travel on the 13th row - Finnair has a 13th row. Some airlines do not.
And, many tall buildings do not have a 13th floor. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month on the construction of 56 Leonard Street, a 60-story skyscraper in Manhattan's TriBeCa neighborhood. When it's complete, amenities will include an indoor/outdoor theater, 75-foot lap pool, library lounge and private dining salon. What it won't have: a 13th floor.
Although academic research shows the vast majority of people don't buy into the idea of unlucky 13, less than 5% of mid- and high-rise residential condo buildings in Manhattan and Brooklyn have a designated 13th floor, according to an analysis of roughly 1,500 condo declarations by real-estate listings website CityRealty. In the rest, the 13th floor is labeled as the 14th, so no one in the building is saddled with the 13th-floor address.
So, what's the big deal about the number 13? The TODAY show website offers an explanation: Author and psychology professor Stuart Vyse says, "The number 13 has a number of very old references that tend to be associated with groups of 13 people."
"At the Last Supper in Christian theology, there were 13 dinner guests, so that number is unlucky because Christ was betrayed. ... And in Norse mythology, 12 benevolent gods were gathering in a hall and the evil god Loki attacked the group. Loki was the 13th guest, and the god Balder was killed in the melee."
Vyse noted that President Franklin D. Roosevelt was quite fearful of the number 13, and he took great pains to avoid hosting a meal for a group of that size. "If he had a cancellation and it looked as if there might be 13 people to lunch, he invited his secretary to join them so there wouldn't be 13," he said.
The fear of the number 13 is so pervasive that it even has a phobia named after it: triskaidekaphobia.
When we think about superstition or luck, we recognize that we are not dealing with Biblical concepts. Pastor Greg Laurie was quoted on The Christian Post website regarding the concept of luck, saying that:
If you are a Christian, then you are a child of God. There's no such thing as dumb luck. God has a plan and a purpose. He has a strategy for your life. You may not see it now, but He sees it and always has seen it. God is paying attention to what you are facing right now. He is paying attention to what you really need—not necessarily to what you want. So the great thing to know is that God is thinking about you and He cares about you.
We must remember what God's thoughts are toward us. According to Jeremiah 29:11, God's thoughts toward us are thoughts of peace and not of evil. He may hate sin, but He loves the sinner with an everlasting love. The next time that the devil whispers in your ear that God's design for you is evil, remember Jeremiah 29:11 and quote it. In fact, the next time the devil reminds you of your past, you can remind him of his future. Your future is good. His is not.
The number 13, black cats, rabbit's feet, and good luck charms are just some of those symbols of superstition and may mean nothing to us. But, there may be patterns of behavior, or actions we take, that could be considered superstitious. For instance, do we avoid certain people, places, or paths because of fear? Do we have a mindset where we are consistently looking for the other shoe to drop, sort of speak, expecting something bad to happen?
Perhaps there are rituals in which you participate that make you feel better about yourself or that you think might bring you good luck. If we believe God is in control - really - then we reject the age-old theories and superstitions about luck or happenstance. As a believer in Christ, we are not merely left to chance, but we have the bright hope in Him that He is faithful, He is strong, and He is sovereign.
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