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Scripture for the day: Jeremiah 5:21; Matthew 13:14-15 Hear this now, O foolish people, without understanding, who have eyes and see not, and who have ears and hear not …. And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: “Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, and seeing you will see and not perceive; 15 For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them.”
Thought for the day: Does it bother you in the slightest that the human race seems to be drowning in knowledge while stranded in a desert of understanding? Think about our precarious position in the universe today; the sum of all human knowledge has expanded exponentially over the past ten or so years. We are helpless to keep up with the increase in available knowledge. In fact, one researcher has estimated that, were we to read 24 hours a day from the age of 21 until age 70, and retain all we read, we would be 1 ½ million years behind at the end of that time.
With the advent of portable telephones that will do everything a super computer would have done 30 years ago, with the possible exception of actually making a phone call, we now have the sum of all human knowledge literally at our fingertips. Think of something you want to know more about; go ahead, pick a subject. Type a question about that subject and you will instantly have some 50+ million sites you can visit, all dedicated to answering your question. You can find out information on any subject, from basic plans for a nuclear reactor to how many fleas typically live on any given dog at any given time (from 7 to as many as 300 or more – I looked it up). And what do we generally do with this vast storehouse of information? We watch stupid cat videos, or we get into political arguments with people we’ve never even met.
No wonder Jesus told His disciples the story of the four kinds of hearers. He spoke of those who were too busy to even hear the Good News of the gospel, those who heard but never internalized what they were told, those who heard but let the cares and concerns of this world overwhelm them, and those few who heard the Word and made it the guiding principle for their lives. What he said was, essentially, that the Good News had come but the vast majority were too busy watching cat videos to recognize the truth that would have set them free. Lord, forgive us; I fear we’ve not changed in nearly 2,000 years.
So, what’s the purpose behind this mindless rant you’ve endured from me this morning? Just this; you and I, those who call ourselves by the name of Christ, are as susceptible to cat videos as anyone else. Diligent pursuit of knowing Christ (not just more about Him) is our call and our pleasure. Paul put it best when he said, “One thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14). We’ve too often allowed ourselves to become so many Martha’s, distracted with serving, instead of the Mary’s we were called to be, sitting at the feet of the Master, learning from Him.
Again, Paul put it best when he encouraged the Roman Christians to “present your bodies a living sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…” (Romans 12:1-2). Folks, the songwriter was right when she said,
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face;
And the things of earth will go strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.1
Now go take on your world. - Bill
1. Words and music by Helen Lemmel, 1863-1961.