Monday, October 9, 2017

The Black Dot

The teacher posted a picture at the front of the classroom.  "I want everyone to write what they see in this picture," He said to the class as they looked puzzled at the white sheet of paper with one single black dot on it.

It didn't take the class long to write out what they saw.  Some tried to get scientific about how the light was absorbed by the black dot.  Others spoke of its shape.  Everyone wrote something down and when all the papers were handed in the teacher quickly looked them over. 

"I see that everyone has written about the black dot in the center but no one wrote about the white area it is on.  The white paper is just as important as the black dot.  How could you ever see the dot if there was nothing to place it upon?"

Take your Bible and look at it.  God's words are written there on white paper.  It would be very difficult to have a bible with what God has to say to us without the paper.  The Scriptures cannot be communicated without a medium to bear it to the world.

The greatest medium for God's word is not paper, but lives.  Your life is the medium upon which God has chosen to bear His word to the world.  God's word is to be written on your heart so that your life and your words are witnesses of the work of God and His goodness.  

How many people read the Bible in the United States?  There is an average of 4.4 bibles in the homes of Americans.  57% of Americans read their Bibles 4 or fewer times a year.  Only 19%  of church-going Christians claim to read their Bibles every day.  Of course, that is 19% of people who go to church, and there are only 40% of Americans who claim to go to church weekly.

Most people in the United States, and even more in the rest of the world, do not read what God has said to them in the Scriptures.  There is only one solution to this lack of knowledge of what God says. You!

People see you all the time.  They notice you and judge your words and actions constantly.  In split seconds people decide if they like you or not.  Will they see Christ in your life?  Will they realize that you are a loving person, who accepts them (but not their sins) because of Christ living within your life?  Are you the sacred medium of God's word that God designed you to be?

"Preach the word!  Be ready in season and out of season.  Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching." 2 Timothy 4:2


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