Luke 24:25-27 He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

What we wouldn’t give to have a recording of all that Jesus told those two men! However, we do have the Bible, and we have the Holy Spirit to explain it to us. The bigger issue is that like those men, our hearts are dull and slow to believe. It’s interesting that political correctness was a total non-issue. Jesus was downright blunt! We are so afraid of giving offense, and so quick to take it, that truth often gets lost in the process. We are certainly to speak in love, but we are also to speak truth, and not platitudes or flattery. (Ephesians 4:15) We are to seek truth, whether it is comfortable or not, and we are to be unstinting in sharing it. We need to be hungry for truth, because Jesus said that He Himself is the truth. (John 14:6) Too often we get “fed up” with truth and don’t want any more. That’s because we haven’t digested what we’ve received and made it part of us. Just as we aren’t interested in more food immediately after a big meal, failure to appropriate truth leaves us unable to take in more. Here too we need the help of the Holy Spirit as a “digestive aid,” so to speak. Also to carry the metaphor further, we constantly take in things that are not God’s truth and are even contrary to it, and those things need to be eliminated. We can’t take in much of God’s truth when we are “stopped up” with junk! We need consistent spiritual nutrition, which is why we need to read the Bible daily, not as obligation, legalistically, but asking and allowing the Holy Spirit to illuminate it to our hearts and illuminate our hearts with it. The more we do that, the more appetite we will have for all that God wants to speak to us.

I’m speaking to myself! I love to take in information, which is to say, I have a huge appetite. Reading news and reading fiction aren’t bad, but that must always be on the foundation of the Word. I’ve got to let the Holy Spirit filter what I actually take in, and help me eliminate that which is not beneficial. As a Teacher I love to feed others, so I need to be very careful to give them only pure food, not polluted by humanistic thinking – even mine. I am to prepare and present it as attractively as possible, at a rate that people can assimilate. I have a tendency to overload my hearers! I also need to help the believers understand and believe that they too can share God’s truth with others, and equip them to do so. (Ephesians 4:12) God wants His truth to go out, so that multitudes may be set free! (John 8:32)

Father, thank You for this timely Word. Thank You for yesterday and all it held. Thank You especially that the afternoon program went so well. Thank You for the joy the adults had in participating for the sake of the children. Thank You that the children genuinely seemed to have a good time, and that their parents responded well too. I do ask for clear guidance as we ramp up a consistent children’s ministry, that children and parents alike may be drawn into Your family, for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!