A few days ago, I overheard a conversation between a couple of people. The topic of their discussion was about “Reunion” (Wise County Old Settlers’ Reunion). One sounded like Reunion Veteran with plenty of comments about what the other person was going to like and dislike. The person who was receiving these comments had never attended Reunion, and after listening to the one with the experiences, I thought the friend may now never attend Reunion.
It’s funny, and in some ways even odd, how we hear or read comments and based on those comments we form an opinion and too often, as a result, miss an opportunity to have a first-hand, untainted experience for ourselves. Like the person who heard some of the Reunion experiences of their friend and decided not to attend based on the friend’s account. Please don’t misunderstand, there is nothing wrong with the sharing of experiences and plenty of people have made good decisions using other’s accounts. But sometimes we miss out on something or someone when we fail to gather first-hand information or even additional data and only rely on someone else’s account.
In Chapter 9 of Luke’s Gospel, Jesus sends out the twelve disciples to proclaim God’s kingdom and to heal the sick. In Chapter 10, Luke tells us Jesus then commissioned 72 people to go out in pairs to tell people God’s kingdom had come upon them and they too were to heal the sick as the Twelve had been sent to do. Of course there were lives to be changed both physically and spiritually. But if the Twelve and then the 72 mentioned in Chapter 10 had only received someone else’s comments about Jesus, or God’s Kingdom, or the notion of healing the sick, where do you think the church would be today? I think these first two groups of followers got a first-hand taste of the Kingdom of God and in their personal experiences, many lives and many generations, including their own, were transformed by God’s grace through those experiences.
One of the things I like to suggest to those who read the Bible is to avoid the “helps” or the notes and commentaries until after the text has been read and some time to “wrestle” with the story has occurred. That way, the reader has a personal or first-hand experience to then hear what others might say through the commentaries at a later time. This allows the Holy Spirit to help us discern truth and not to have someone else tell us in advance what a text says and then be told how to understand and apply it. Unfortunately, there are far too many people who can’t wait to tell us what the Bible says and how we are to live our lives as a result of their understanding.
In the coming weeks and months, we will have opportunities for first-hand experiences. There will be ways to learn and to grow, to give and to serve (hey, that sounds like our Vision Statement) the Lord and the Kingdom that is upon us. Don’t let someone talk you out of an opportunity that you might have. It may be the opportunity that God was making available to you so that you might get to know God a bit better. Find a way to experience God first-hand and then help others around you as you share, like the Disciples and then the 72 after they returned. God’s story is our story and each of our stories are a part of God’s story. Don’t wait to simply read about it somewhere, get off the sideline and let yourself have the experience!
See you in worship (and maybe at Reunion),
Brian