I
remember from past studies that the Jews believed that each letter in
the Hebrew alphabet had a meaning associated with it beyond just the
sound of the letter. They attached a special numerical importance
with each letter and word looked for a message beyond
the obvious literal meaning of God’s word.
After all, God wrote the ten
commandments himself (Exo. 31:18; Deut 9:10). The
Jews insight into Scripture seems quite reasonable
since God is far beyond us in
all aspects of his being. God
says through the prophet Isaiah in chapter 55:
8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” says Yahweh.
9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways,
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” says Yahweh.
9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways,
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Knowing
these things, I was interested in the possible coincidence on that
white board.
As
I considered the relationships between knowledge, hard work and
attitude, I thought of the apostle Paul. In his letter to the
Galatian assemblies, Paul writes...
Galatians
1 ( World
English
Bible )
11 But
I make known to you, brothers, concerning the Good News which was
preached by me, that it is not according to man. 12 For
neither did I receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came
to me through revelation of Jesus Christ. 13 For
you have heard of my way of living in time past in the Jews’
religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the assembly of God,
and ravaged it. 14 I
advanced in the Jews’ religion beyond many of my own age among my
countrymen, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my
fathers.
Paul,
an educated man who
was conversant in several languages and thoroughly versed in The
Hebrew Bible and all the customs and teachings of the Jews didn’t
sit in a “high tower”, he did the most difficult work I can think
of – he was an evangelist for the Gospel of Christ. He interacted
with probably tens of thousands of people (my guess) and worked to
help them not
only to become
Christians, but
to mature as well.
And yet, throughout his career, he maintained a humble spirit which
we should all emulate.
To
me, Paul’s
attitude was more important than all his education or even his hard
work. So, is the message of the white board coincidence or not? For
me, the answer is a resounding NO!
Why?
Mark
chapter 12…
29
Jesus
answered, “The
greatest is, ‘Hear, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is
one: 30 you
shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your
soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength." This
is the first commandment. 31 The
second is like this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as
yourself.’ There
is no other commandment greater than these.”
Remember,
LOVE
has nothing to do with math- it
comes from the attitude within ones heart.