A city slicker
(city dweller) in the forest has the same senses as one raised in woods. But
the city dweller has not trained those senses to discern the import of what he
sees, hears, smells and feels. For example: Why are those bushes rustling
around him? It could be that he is being stalked by predatory animal, or it
could be just the wind. Are the footprints & droppings of any significance?
It may be that a large animal is in near proximity. But he may barely notice
these because he hasn’t been trained to watch for them. He may casually observe
them but then fail to link what he sees to the potential warning this impends.
He may even know that wild animals are in the forest and know what harm they
can cause but, due to lack of training, he fails to see the whole picture.
The same goes for those not alert spiritually – they see what is
happening but do not see the potential harm or benefit. If such a person does
not train their
spiritual perceptive powers, he endangers himself. For example, he may
recognize the dangers of drinking to excess (being a danger to their own health
and that of others) but due to the “environment” of peer pressure (being caught
up in the “fun” of things), they lose sight of
the danger because it all appears to be in fun and jesting.
On a grander scale, because of becoming so wrapped up in
daily living, apathy, or stubbornly clinging to their own viewpoints, people lose
sight of times we are living in.
But for Christians, this goes beyond avoiding dangers. It includes
an “astute” ability to learn from life’s lessons. Jesus spoke of this in his
time that not only didn’t understand his simple illustrations, but showed no
interest beyond hearing a story Jesus was telling. Since they weren’t
curious enough (like the
12 disciples were), they never learned deep spiritual lessons.
Scriptures used:
Matthew 13:10-15,36
Matthew 24:37-39
Mark 4:34
Romans 10:3
Hebrews 5:14
2 Peter 3:3-4
No comments:
Post a Comment