Daily Devotion for January 23, 2006

SO HOW MANY TIMES DID HE CROSS OVER THE ROAD?

 

Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting, get understanding. Proverbs 4:7 (KJV)
Wisdom is supreme; therefore, get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding. Proverbs 4:7 (NIV)

 

Which version do you prefer?

 

Recently I received an e-mail which begged the age-old question "Why did the chicken cross the road?" complete with thirty-nine different explanations. There were answers from someone's perception of how Plato would have responded and ranged from Moses to Mark Twain, Dali to Dickinson, Marx to Machiavelli, Seinfeld to Colonel Sanders.

 

Of course this was sent in jest, but it illustrates how each one of us has our own perception of and ways to process answers to one question. There were thirty-nine answers to that question, thirty-nine ways in which each of those people might perceive the question and answer in the way they understood it.

 

However, not everyone could, or I dare say does, accept every single explanation. A few were very long and difficult answers, probably too long for some of us. Some were very technical, not readily accepted or understood by an "un-technical" thinker. Some were short and to the point, supposedly not to the satisfaction of the long and difficult answerer. Some were ridiculous because the thinker thought the question redundant. This though, is merely my perception of someone else's answers.

 

It seems that this is the way with "the Word" also. Some people prefer one version of the Bible while others a different.  They may prefer one way in which a translation shows a verse over a different translation.  Same verse. Two interpretations or translations.

 

Granted, a particular verse in the Bible may strike each of us a different way.  That is God and His Spirit working in our lives.  However, we have to remember, God’s word is constant and NON-changing.  We can’t just take a verse and if we don’t like what it says go and try to find a translation that makes us feel better.  There are many verses in Scripture that are not written to make us feel better – they are written to change us.  Change is painful!  Let God’s Word say what it says – and let’s try to heed what it says!  And that’s NOT my opinion!

 

Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank you for your Word, your Word that is eternal and unchanging.  Fill us with your Spirit so we can be changed by it. Amen.

 

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Tim Hetzner - President - Lutheran Church Charities
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