The first Lesson from Bakini Bottom

“Your shoe’s untied”

[a lesson on pride/boasting]

23 This is what the Lord says:
The wise must not boast in his wisdom;
the mighty must not boast in his might;
the rich must not boast in his riches. 24 But the one who boasts should boast in this,
that he understands and knows Me -
that I am the Lord, showing faithful love,
justice, and righteousness on the earth,
for I delight in these things.[This is] the Lord's declaration.

Jeremiah 9:23-24

EPISODE SUMMARY

Patrick comes to Spongebob with a new pair of shoes that he doesn’t know how to tie. Spongebob proceeds to tell Patrick what an awesome shoe tie-er he is….and then can’t remember how to tie his own shoes!!!! He successfully distracts Patrick for a while, to cover up his own embarrassment/problem, but then he wakes up the next morning and discovers that his own shoes are untied. Now he as a real problem! He tries to go to work, hoping that no one will notice, but having untied laces affects his behaviour and his performance at the Krusty Krab. Patrick shows up, and Spongebob is too embarrassed to show his face to his friend, so he goes to great lengths to hide in the kitchen and not move. Pretty soon, his behaviour begins to affect the other ‘people’ in the Krusty Krab….to the point where he HAS to admit that he can’t tie his shoes. Once the fact that he was falsely boasting is out in the open, Spongebob searches high and low for someone to teach him to tie his shoes. In his moment of desperation, he even encounters a manifestation of a ‘Satan’ character, who dazzles Spongebob with fancy knot tying tricks, but no real answers. Finally, Spongebob decides that his life is over, and he goes home, where his faithful pet slug tries to get his attention. Spongebob doesn’t listen, and finally, the slug ROARS at him, and it’s only then that Spongebob discovers that the answer/solution was right in front of him the whole time.

APPLICATION/DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

In this episode, spongebob did something called “boasting”. Today, we might call it “being cocky” or “trash talking”. Dictionary.com defines boasting as: To glorify oneself in speech; talk in a self-admiring way; to speak with excessive pride. The act or an instance of bragging.

FOR DISCUSSION:
Think of a time recently when you KNOW that you were boasting about something to others. In what situation are we most likely to be tempted to be boastful? What are we most likely to boast about?

Boasting often involves putting someone else down in order to build yourself up. Spongebob did this when he laughed and made fun of Patrick – his best friend. It also involves stretching or ignoring the truth. When you know someone is boasting to you, how does it make you feel, knowing that the truth is being stretched or ignored? How do you feel if YOU’RE the one boasting?

When we boast, we KNOW that we’re not being honest. Often, that means that we have to cover up for or compensate for our boasting so that we don’t get caught in our dishonesty. Our behaviour begins to affect our lives, and affect other’s lives – much like Spongebob’s behaviour affected squidward, Mr. Krab, and the customers of the Krusty Krab. How can OUR boasting affect others in our lives?

When the truth came out, Spongebob went on a frantic, desperate search to justify himself/learn to tie his shoes. He even went to the Evil Flying Dutchman [who represents Satan] who dazzles him with flashy tricks, but doesn’t have any real answers. In our own lives, when we’ve reached our most desperate point, Satan sneaks in and tempts us with things that look like easy answers for our problems, but they’re not really solutions at all.

Spongebob walked home in desperation, convinced that his life was over because of his problem. His trusty slug, Gary, tried several times to get Spongebob’s attention, but Spongebob was too wrapped up in his own misery to listen. Finally, when Gary roared at Spongebob, Spongebob listened to him, and discovered that the answer he’d been looking for was right under his nose the whole time.

Often, God is speaking to us through our own trials and hard situations – but in our own pride and boasting, we don’t want to listen to Him – especially when our pride has been wounded. He keeps trying to show us the right way, and we don’t listen. Think of a time in your own life when God was trying to speak to you and you didn’t take time to listen until He did something drastic – now that you’ve gotten through that situation, looking back, how did God try to get your attention?

What can we do to hear God’s voice more easily?

What are some of the consequences of being prideful/boasting?

How will listening to God and following his word in Jeremiah 9:23-24 help us live a more Godly life?