Jump Start # 1700

Ephesians 3:4 “By referring to this, when your read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ”

  Her name was Mary, but everyone called her “Granny.” She died in 1914 at the age of 91. I had heard of her but didn’t know much about her. A recent trip to visit my dad got us into looking into our family history. He brought out a small box, that looked like an old wooden eyeglass case. And, yes, there was an old pair of wire rimmed glasses. Those were “Granny’s”, he told me. A few yellowed news clippings and a folded receipt from the Singer Sewing machine company for a purchase of a sewing machine in 1886. Why the family kept this is beyond me. But on the paper were signatures. The sewing machine cost $30.00 and monthly payments were set up to complete the deal. Granny’s name appears at the bottom among the signatures. Beside her name, hard to see at first, was an X. Above the X was the word, “her.” Her X. Granny couldn’t spell her own name. She was 64 years old when she got that sewing machine, and she didn’t know how to write her own name. I have thought and thought about that ever since I saw that old piece of paper. Granny had been married four times. All of her husbands died, including one in the Civil War. She was my grandfather’s great grandmother. Too many greats in there for me to count.

This verse came to my mind when I saw “Her X.” If she didn’t know how to write her own name, I doubt she could read. Why no one ever taught her I do not understand. Maybe the people around her couldn’t read or write. Simple, common people, but unable to read and write. Paul said, in our verse, “when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ.” We can know what Paul knew, when we read Ephesians.

There was a time throughout Europe, when the majority of the people could not read or write. They would have to depend upon someone else to tell them what the Scriptures said. They would be unable to hold God’s wonderful book in His hand and see for themselves what promises and blessings God has for His people. We take reading for granted today. Everyone can read, yet many don’t. There are huge numbers of people who are highly educated, but they rarely read. Once completed with school, they busy themselves with family and career and never expand the mind by the joys of reading.

For whatever reason, God chose the form of communication with words. God didn’t send pictures. God didn’t use feelings. He used words. Words preached. Words written. Those words could be understood. Words have definitions. They mean things. Art, for instance, can have vast interpretations based upon what a person sees. I’ve been to art galleries and stood before a picture in which to me, it looked like someone threw a bucket of paint at. The guides will tell you that the picture represented a turning point in the artist’s life that was brought about by the challenges he faced in society that was fighting racial oppression. I look at that and think, “How did you get all of that from a few splashes of blue paint with green and yellow lines?” Music is the same way. We went to hear Mahler’s 2nd Symphony the other day. Great music. But I didn’t get the death, trying to find the meaning of life and resurrection parts. My wife understood those parts. I simply heard some nice music. The point is, in music, art and feelings, interpretations vary. It doesn’t mean the same to each person. Words do. “Don’t” means “don’t.” You can’t miss that.

God chose words. Words can be copied. They can be copied exactly. Words can be translated. Words can be memorized. Words can be defined. Words can be understood. Words can be told to others. So, with all the forms of communication, God chose words. “The word of God,” is a significant expression in the Bible. “Thus saith the Lord,” is another oft repeated expression in the Bible. It is important that we understand this. The modern church is moving rapidly toward a “Feeling based,” form of communication. People talk about “feeling” saved. Some say, “I feel God.” Some talk about knowing something is right based upon their feelings. This form of thinking and authority moves people away from an absolute standard. What you feel may not be what I feel. You may feel something is right and I may feel something is wrong. In a feeling based religion, both of us would be right. What is right for you may not be right for me. This leads to each person doing and believing whatever they feel like. This leads away from passages that teach us to be of “one mind,” or “intent on one purpose.” Faith becomes a feeling and church is a gathering of those who do not see things the same, believe the same nor want the same. It’s a hodge– podge of whatever. This is the landscape of the modern church. Members of the same church do not agree nor believe in the same simple doctrinal principles. What a mess. This is where feeling based religion takes you.

God chose words. Words that would be preached. Words that would be written and read. It is important for us to keep teaching the words of God. When questions arise, it is to the word of God that we turn. They were can find exactly what God says. There we can find the answer. The more of the Bible that is in us, the more clear God’s will becomes.

Words—God’s words. Read them. Repeat them. Live them.

Roger