Monday, August 15, 2016

Devotion - Monday, August 15

First, it is good to be back with you.  I miss this opportunity to be in communion with you.

Second, newly added folks, you get whatever comes.  No editing.  

John 3 contains the exchange between Jesus and Nicodemus.  Jesus asks Nicodemus a question.  I am not sure whether it was rhetorical.  Jesus may have been making a point; Jesus may have been marveling at the ability we humans have to know something and yet not grasp what that same something means.

Jesus asks Nicodemus, "Are you a teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand this?"

One thing I do know - Jesus was not slamming Jewish people.  It isn't a matter of saying "Jews don't understand, Christians do."  (Add to that Muslims, Hindu, etc.(

Followers are called to follow.  We follow Jesus.  But we are also called upon to read Jesus' words and the witness of those whose contact with him has been recorded.  Too often, we read the words but fail to understand.

Understanding is the gift which comes when we take time with the stories and ask how they speak directly to our lives.  Understanding happens when we experience the events in our Bibles as events which have happened and are happening in our daily walk with Jesus.

This is what I miss during the summer months.  I can read and I can pray but I don't always find myself forced to reflect on how what I have read or what happened to me in prayer changes me.

Understanding is a life-long process.  It begins when we do not stop by learning the story, but also learn how that story is our story.  

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