Most of my life I have been the type of person that would not hesitate to try something without really knowing much about it. But as I have gotten older that tendency has weakened and I am more interested in staying with the things I am familiar with, or have first hand information about it.
Over my lifetime I have found food that I really like so I will go into a different restaurant and order the same thing. The reality is, however, that not everyone fixes the same food in the same way. I have had great hamburgers in one place and very average ones in others. It has to do with the condiments, the type of meat used, the amount of heat and time the meat is cooked, and even the freshness of the bun. There are a number of things that have to be right for that hamburger to be as good as it can be. The problem is, what if another person takes over the establishment? We need to talk to someone who has recently been there.
In life there are many things in the Word of God that you can count on. Take plants for instance. In the beginning God made the plants to take in carbon dioxide and give off oxygen that gives us life. When we were traveling every week, it was so uplifting to see the palm trees in the winter months as we drove into the deep southern states. As much as I like palm trees, I would be foolish to think that I could grow them in my back yard because the winter temperature in Ohio is much different than it is in Florida.
We cannot expect everything to taste the same in every establishment that serves food, or palm trees to flourish in freezing weather. Our information can be what we want it to be because it is what we have become accustomed to. When we as humans choose to forget what happened, we become callused to those things that really affected us at one time. There have been countless times when people insist on believing want they are accustomed to hearing, and have missed something much better. However, if we experience something firsthand, we will usually remember. The establishment was trying to tell a man who was blind that Jesus was a sinner.
John 9:25, He answered and said, “Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know. One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see.” That is the assurance of “First Hand Information!”
Firsthand information from Israel is coming to The Gathering Place on Friday night, May 31, so hold the date and watch the Record-Herald for details. You can also join us every Sunday morning at 10:30 and Wednesday evening at 7 to hear the first hand information from the Word of God. We have Youth Group and First Steps Recovery Sunday evening at 6.
