Day 027: The Source

Jesus answered and said to them, "Indeed, Elijah is coming first and will restore all things.  But I say to you that Elijah has come already and they did not know him but did to him whatever they wished.  Likewise, the Son of Man is also about to suffer at their hands."  Matthew 17:11-12

In his ministry, Jesus took many opportunities to show disciples exactly who he is.  In the transfiguration, Jesus reveals himself in all his glory before three specific disciples.  They had all the information they needed, and yet they still had trouble accepting Jesus as the son of God.

Today, we are very blessed to have access to so much information. You can use so many different search engines to find answers to questions that your friends probably don't know the answers to.  You have access to so much of the world's knowledge.  But, we still prefer to pretend we know things.  We like to recycle lies.  We like to read lies as well and believe them.

In this political season, we like to buy whatever the ads are telling us.  We believe the tears that actors were paid to shed.  We indulge in the voice of a politician who is probably going to turn their back on us.  We allow for these people to make up factoids on the spot without taking the five seconds to check them out for ourselves.

If we go even deeper, we have the bible, published and bound, made cheap, so that we can all have a copy, let alone find online.  Yet, we let people tell us otherwise about it.  We like to cycle many myths that we don't understand, and we like to believe things that aren't there.  However, another issue is that we don't want to take time to learn.  Today, I came across a Greek proverb that says,

"One day does not make a wise man."

Sure, we might be able to get watered down answers in seconds so that we can keep a conversation going over lunch with friends.  But, in order to understand God, to hold onto God, we need to give God all the time we have.  We need to allow ourselves to be molded by God's hands, not by tempting human ones.  We need to go straight to the source to strengthen our faith.

The bible is long.  The church services might seem long.  The prayers might seem long.  But, we find ourselves wasting our time on our phones, playing games that get us nowhere, spending money on trinkets we might forget about before we even receive them, reading about things that don't have any substance.  We need to devote ourselves more to God, for that is the only way we will have a lasting relationship.  We need to fill ourselves with all things spiritual, so that we can see the all-encompassing glory of God.

Today's Readings:

Exodus 3-4

Psalm 21:18-32 (22:18-32)

Proverbs 10:15-16

Matthew 17:1-13

Acts 27