11/6/14

From Gary... Seeing things more clearly...






Every day I see the dog-walk because every day my dogs have to do their business. But, what I don't see everyday is the fruit of a harvest.  I am so used to seeing the growing hay, that sometimes I forget that it is there TO BE HARVESTED.  People are like this field; during the course of a week I probably see hundreds (if not thousands) and I take them for granted. Yet, they are important; each one is special before God and who knows how many are just waiting to hear the truth from the Bible? And when one does respond to the truth- what a wonderful time that is!!!  Imagine, then, how Paul must have felt at the end of this passage...

Acts, Chapter 21 (WEB)
Acts 21:18 The day following, Paul went in with us to James; and all the elders were present. Acts 21:19 When he had greeted them, he reported one by one the things which God had worked among the Gentiles through his ministry. Acts 21:20 They, when they heard it, glorified God. They said to him, “You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed, and they are all zealous for the law.

After reading through the Bible several times, I tend to focus in on the New Testament and even more on those books that have the Gentiles in mind. So, Luke and the Pauline epistles have become my favorites. However, the Scriptures teach that the Gospel is for the "Jew first and also the Greek" and this excerpt from Acts shows that many of the Jews did (and will) believe.  Like the fruit of the field above, we just have to really look through the obstacles (the trees on the left) and see the work of God for what it really is (that is, on the right). Keep looking, you never know when you might find a zealot for God!!! And that person just might know the Hebrew Bible thoroughly, so make sure to spend a lot of time between Genesis and Malachi!!!