Know Their Heart
It can also be fraught with disaster.
Reference: “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” (Luke 10:26 NIV)
Explore: I really love text communication. It is quick, to the point and often humorous jokes can be put across better when written. But it can also be fraught with disaster.
When I write a sentence and send it to someone via text, they do not know if I’m being funny, serious or sarcastic! Emotion cannot always be communicated in text, no matter how many emoticons you may have!
I haven’t had too many issues with text, however, because I only tend to text close friends. This means they already know my heart, and so, a text that could be misinterpreted is explained by them knowing me intimately.
Application: God’s word can often be misinterpreted. There is so much in the Bible that can be tricky to read; scholars and theologians have spent lifetimes trying to understand it.
Even before the New Testament was written, a scholar came to ask Jesus to interpret the laws for him. I think it’s interesting that Jesus didn’t just ask the scholar which law he wanted to understand but He also asked him “how do you read it?”
The scholar was able to recite the law but he wasn’t able to understand it. Jesus then went on to explain the heart of God and then interpreted the law – He told the story of the Good Samaritan.
It’s one thing to be able to read but it takes knowledge to understand. The more we know God’s heart the better we will be at understanding His word.
Prayer: Lord, open our minds and our hearts to truly know You. Amen.
How do you understand God’s heart?
This article was written by Linda Bailey
Linda started theological studies in 1999 in Australia. After working for ten years in various church ministries, she now works as the breakfast producer at 89.9 LightFM - the Christian radio station in Melbourne, Australia. She writes blogs every day about passages she is currently reading in the Bible. Follow her on Google Plus +Linda Bailey or Facebook by clicking the like button on the right of this page.