I am an email daily devotion junkie. I get Daily Inspirations, Daily 
Devotions, Daily Reflections and Word for the Day sent to my inbox every morning. I have to admit somedays I delete them without reading them because I just can't keep up. I think daily devotions are like manna. If I try to save them for later, they rot and become full of worms. Or something like that.
It seems though when I stop allowing myself be so busy, and I actually pay attention to what I'm reading, a common thread will run through the activities of my day. This morning was a great example. One devotion was all about Jesus and his parables. I don't know about you, but almost every time I read one, I understand it a different way. The last sentence of the scripture was "With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples."
Does this mystify anyone else besides me? Jesus seems to be purposely excluding many of his listeners from understanding the important parables. Just to be perfectly clear, as if there could possibly be any confusion, I am not a Biblical scholar. I have read a lot, joined Bible study groups, even completed a four-year course at my church called Education for Ministry (EFM). But what I have found is that the more I study, the less I know. Just when I think I have something nailed down...well, let's just say that I think God has quite a sense of humor....to think that I orginally signed up for EFM so that I could easily field the questions thrown at me as a youth group leader...
But I digress..back to the parable devotion. No wonder the rank and file of us are so confused. These stories are seemingly easy to understand, an unruly son goes to live with pigs and finds out he doesn't like it. Duh. And dad takes him back. Not all of us can do tough love, so we can empathize. We don't want our kids to live in squallor, their bedrooms notwithstanding.
But when we start thinking about why Jesus even told this story, what was he trying to say without coming out and actually saying it? And why not, for gosh sakes. Even the disciples needed more information. Subtlities are lost on most of us. And then the really hard part where we take his message to heart and change our lives. Change? Me? Wonder if I didn't really get the point of the story and make a totally unneccessary change....?
Oh well, gotta run. I've got mail!
Devotions, Daily Reflections and Word for the Day sent to my inbox every morning. I have to admit somedays I delete them without reading them because I just can't keep up. I think daily devotions are like manna. If I try to save them for later, they rot and become full of worms. Or something like that.It seems though when I stop allowing myself be so busy, and I actually pay attention to what I'm reading, a common thread will run through the activities of my day. This morning was a great example. One devotion was all about Jesus and his parables. I don't know about you, but almost every time I read one, I understand it a different way. The last sentence of the scripture was "With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples."
Does this mystify anyone else besides me? Jesus seems to be purposely excluding many of his listeners from understanding the important parables. Just to be perfectly clear, as if there could possibly be any confusion, I am not a Biblical scholar. I have read a lot, joined Bible study groups, even completed a four-year course at my church called Education for Ministry (EFM). But what I have found is that the more I study, the less I know. Just when I think I have something nailed down...well, let's just say that I think God has quite a sense of humor....to think that I orginally signed up for EFM so that I could easily field the questions thrown at me as a youth group leader...
But I digress..back to the parable devotion. No wonder the rank and file of us are so confused. These stories are seemingly easy to understand, an unruly son goes to live with pigs and finds out he doesn't like it. Duh. And dad takes him back. Not all of us can do tough love, so we can empathize. We don't want our kids to live in squallor, their bedrooms notwithstanding.
But when we start thinking about why Jesus even told this story, what was he trying to say without coming out and actually saying it? And why not, for gosh sakes. Even the disciples needed more information. Subtlities are lost on most of us. And then the really hard part where we take his message to heart and change our lives. Change? Me? Wonder if I didn't really get the point of the story and make a totally unneccessary change....?
Oh well, gotta run. I've got mail!
1 comment:
Thank goodness someone else feels this way too!!
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