Matthew 15:16 – And Jesus said, "Are ye also yet without understanding?" (KJV)

With increased automation, things supposedly were made easier to understand, quicker to achieve, faster to get done.

The other day as I rang up the number to check on the delivery and receipt of a parcel within our postal system, an automated voice instructed me with the following phraseology: "Using the keypad of your touch-tone phone, please enter the eleven character alpha numeric item identifier."

It hadn't even seemed so long since I'd become used to being told, "Using your keypad, enter the 11 numbers on your receipt."

In our persistent pursuit of "political correctness", the more we try to write or speak so someone can understand exactly what we are saying, the longer it seems to take and the harder it becomes to understand. We have to decipher the new phrases to get back to the basics.

Maybe this is making a difference in our spiritual lives too, as we try to master the mystery of God's word. Maybe we try so hard to understand, that Jesus says, in effect: "You were given the two tablets of stone so that you'd have ten basic values to live by. You learned the Lord's Prayer. My word was written down for you. Yet you felt you needed more; you reworked it, reworded it — and what!? You are still without understanding?"

Maybe we just need to get back to the basics. The mystery may not be as much as we're trying to make it out to be.

Prayer: Our heavenly Father, help us to live our lives as laid out in your commandments. Help us to remember that the Lord's Prayer was given to sustain us when other words fail. In Your name we pray. Amen.

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About the author:

Mary Daniel <marydee@shaw.ca>
Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada
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