Ephesians 4:18 (GW) They can’t understand because they are
in the dark. They are excluded from the life that God approves of because of
their ignorance and stubbornness.
When Joe and I went for a walk last night we came upon my
doggie friend Hank who was walking his owner.
Hank growled and barked furiously at Joe. My attempts to show Hank that
Joe was a nice man didn’t work. Hank
doesn’t know Joe and ignorant of Joe’s sweet, dog-loving nature he barked and
barked.
You know people often bark when they’re ignorant of
something or are stubborn. They bark at the church – “I don’t want any of
your organized religion” in ignorance of the blessings of participating in the
body of Christ. They bark in the church at stewardship programs –
“My giving is between me and God” ignorant of the fact that God has already
spoken saying the first fruits of their earnings belong to him. They bark at pastors. One pastor I had spoke
of moving people out of their comfort zones and into a deeper
spirituality. One woman barked, “Stop
talking about moving us out of our comfort zone. We’re quite happy in our
comfort zones.” She was ignorant of the
blessings of a closer walk with God. They bark at others, too. They bark at
people with different political views. “I don’t want to hear your views. My mind is made up” often ignorant that there
can be good and bad on both tickets or that things they’ve heard about certain
candidates were media distortions. They even bark at their loved ones when there’s
a misunderstanding. Bark, bark,
bark! We may not bite but we can sure
bark up a storm. The people in this scripture were missing out on the life God
had planned for them because they were ignorant. What can we do, to better understand the
things and people who inhabit our lives?
Holy
God, we seek wisdom and understanding from you. Help us to receive the
information we need to keep from speaking out of ignorance. In all things bless us with your guiding
touch. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
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