WASHING THE DISHES, UNPACKING IT, PUT AWAY AND READING THE SCRIPTURES?

 

A familiar site: dishwasher full of stuff

The dishes are washed. They are packed into the dishwasher [I am not the one who does the loading]. The machine is switched on [I am not the one who switches it on], and it gets going. When the washing cycle is finished, my task begins: to unload the dishes and put them away. That is when I become important, because then I have to take things further.

As I work, I am grateful that the seven openings in my body are functioning. Being occupied in this way makes me grateful for my cognitive abilities, which enable me to deal with our dishes. I am cognitively capable of identifying every item:

• every teaspoon;
• every spoon;
• knives;
• forks;
• small plates;
• dinner plates;
• teacups;
• large coffee mugs from which we drink our coffee or tea;
• little milk jugs.

Every item.

Every single item, individually.

I recognise it.

I know precisely where and how I am going to put it away.

I know every step I need to take to reach the exact place where I must put each item, in its own particular place.

This is undeniable evidence of the control I have over my mind.

In the same way, I exercise control over my wrestling with the Scriptures. And over my reading of Ellen G. White's book The Great Controversy.

I accept all of this as wisdom and insight that I have received.

The thoughts that Paul cherished for the believers in Laodicea, which he expressed here in Colossians 2:2–3, and are applicable to my own intellectual abilities:

“… that they may attain to all the riches of full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”

Do I see Christ in my dishes?

Outrageous and ridiculous!

No.

He dwells within me through His Holy Spirit; He is aware of every breath I inhale and exhale. He knows precisely what I am doing—He is aware of my dishes and of my reading Scriptures, too.

Today, I had an incredible conversation with a very kosher Jewish man. He is familiar with the concept of reading the Scriptures over and over and over again. Their depth eludes you, then gradually reveal itself in small measure, drawing you further inside.

It is the same as with the dishes: every day, they have to be loaded into the machine; they have to be washed; they have to be unloaded and put away.

And so it is with the Scriptures: every day, do your part and wait for the Spirit of God to guide you and speak to you.

I hope that you have read your Scriptures today. And that you will read them again tomorrow, and the day after that.

Read 1 Corinthians 15—all 58 verses. Then read it again. And keep on doing so.

Write to me at: neelscoertse@wirelessza.co.za