Reading through the first four books of the New Testament is difficult at times. My wife and I are embarking on this journey again this month. I encourage you to do the same. In doing so, one of the more difficult readings is the first chapter of Matthew. When I was in preaching school someone asked a professor if the genealogy of Jesus could be skipped since it wasn’t that important. You can imagine his answer…
There are different types of people in every collective group. These groups may consist of school students, church members, or employees. Everyone within these groups won’t think alike. How do those differences affect the objectives for each group, learning, worshiping God, or completing the mission of the employer? Such differences can cause trouble.
My recent trip to Kansas this past weekend helped cement the point of Ecclesiastes 3:11 in my mind. There is a lot of beauty between Dallas and Wichita (really, there is). I like the open prairie and I was able to see all of it.
Zacchaeus was a wee little man. If being short is considered a problem, it was the smallest of his problems. He worked for the Roman government as a tax collector and he cheated the people. Even with these problems, he was interested in Jesus and Jesus was interested in him.
When I was young, one of my favorite Bible verses was John 3:16. Not until twenty-five years later did I even know what was said in the following verse. I now see that John 3:17 is probably more popular among our younger generations than John 3:16. The reason for this, is because it fits a popular worldview today.
“I could feel her listening with all her heart … and it felt good.” That may be a paraphrase but those or similar words came from the main character in the movie “Because of Winn-Dixie.” Listening is so very important, are you a good listener? You should be.
I praise God for making us all different. How boring would life be if we were all the same? Unfortunately, our differences make it harder to teach when each person in a group is most likely a different type of learner.