Monday's Blessing
John 1:47
"Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said concerning him, See! Here is an Israelite indeed (a true descendant of Jacob) in who there is no guile no deceit nor falsehood nor duplicity."
Preconceived notions can make us look like fools.
We get these silly notions in our heads and run with it like our life depends on it. Sometimes a good friend will stop us in our tracks before it's too late. Other times, we roll full force into a situation too late then use the bazillion excuses we accumulated from past experiences.
We need to learn and keep open minds. We should be single-minded (focused on the will of God), but not narrow-minded (unwilling to be open to new teachings.)
And this my friend is hard. After all, we often think we know it all.
There is a man in the Bible, in John 1:45-51, who Jesus had some very complimentary things to say. His name is Nathanael. When he first met Nathanael, Philip tells him that they'd found the Messiah and he was Jesus of Nazareth. Nathanael replied, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" He was saying that he knew what the people were like in Nazareth and no Messiah would be born of that stock. To which Philip tells him simply, "Come and See!" In other words, don't make a judgement before you've seen yourself. So Nathanael went to see.
One of the reasons Jesus liked Nathanael so much was because even though he had a preconceived opinion that nothing good could come out of Nazareth, especially not a Savior, he was open-minded enough and humble to give it a shot.
Think of how far we could get in life if we worked on these preconceived notions and opened our hearts instead!
Be open to letting God teach you with new learning experiences. It's amazing what we can learn from God and other people he places in our paths if we weren't so thick-headed!
This Week's Meditation:
Teach me to set my preconceived notions aside.
Pray:
Help me to realize that I don't know everything.
Teach me how to place my own ideas aside and open my heart to you.
Remind me that through meditation I can be more Christ-like.
Meditate on this for several minutes a day. Allow various thoughts to come into your mind. And realize God has you in his arms always.
John 1:47
"Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said concerning him, See! Here is an Israelite indeed (a true descendant of Jacob) in who there is no guile no deceit nor falsehood nor duplicity."
Preconceived notions can make us look like fools.
We get these silly notions in our heads and run with it like our life depends on it. Sometimes a good friend will stop us in our tracks before it's too late. Other times, we roll full force into a situation too late then use the bazillion excuses we accumulated from past experiences.
We need to learn and keep open minds. We should be single-minded (focused on the will of God), but not narrow-minded (unwilling to be open to new teachings.)
And this my friend is hard. After all, we often think we know it all.
There is a man in the Bible, in John 1:45-51, who Jesus had some very complimentary things to say. His name is Nathanael. When he first met Nathanael, Philip tells him that they'd found the Messiah and he was Jesus of Nazareth. Nathanael replied, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" He was saying that he knew what the people were like in Nazareth and no Messiah would be born of that stock. To which Philip tells him simply, "Come and See!" In other words, don't make a judgement before you've seen yourself. So Nathanael went to see.
One of the reasons Jesus liked Nathanael so much was because even though he had a preconceived opinion that nothing good could come out of Nazareth, especially not a Savior, he was open-minded enough and humble to give it a shot.
Think of how far we could get in life if we worked on these preconceived notions and opened our hearts instead!
Be open to letting God teach you with new learning experiences. It's amazing what we can learn from God and other people he places in our paths if we weren't so thick-headed!
This Week's Meditation:
Teach me to set my preconceived notions aside.
Pray:
Help me to realize that I don't know everything.
Teach me how to place my own ideas aside and open my heart to you.
Remind me that through meditation I can be more Christ-like.
Meditate on this for several minutes a day. Allow various thoughts to come into your mind. And realize God has you in his arms always.
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