By David ReayFriday 1 Aug 2014LifeWords DevotionalsCultureReading Time: 0 minutes
Transcript:
Read John 1:10-11
10 He came into the very world he created,but the world didn’t recognize him. 11 He came to his own people,and even they rejected him. (NLT)
Helen Keller once said that being blind was not the worst thing in life; the worst thing was having perfect sight and yet not seeing anything. She was referring to discernment: the capacity to see what is really going on.
The world Jesus entered generally lacked this discernment. The Bible scholars studied what was taught about the Messiah but failed to recognise him when he was standing in front of them. They even rejected him because he didn’t conform to their preconceived ideas of what a Messiah should be. An uncomfortable reminder to us that we who cling so tenaciously to our understanding of the Bible may even so miss the point of the Bible.
It is easy for us to miss out on discerning the presence of the Messiah in our midst. We figure we find him in religious settings but these may end up concealing him or distorting him. We need to recognise we may well see him where we least expect him. In the poor and needy. In the midst of heartache. In quiet unguarded moments.
It is good to cultivate an expectation that we will discern the gracious activity of Jesus in all sorts of times and places. For those with such a mindset,every bush is potentially burning.
Blessings
David Reay