GETTING THE MAIL

 As I was pondering what to write this week, an obscure thought popped into my head … there’s something special about getting the mail.  For all intents and purposes, it should be a pretty mundane task. We do it day in and day out, and it’s usually pretty uneventful.  Once in a while, something unique may arrive, but it’s usually bills,  promotional pieces, and periodicals. Still, there’s often a sense of anticipation … what will be in the mailbox today? Even the boys like getting the mail and seeing if there’s anything for them.  Maybe we’re alone in this, but I doubt it.  There was even a movie made with the title “You’ve Got Mail.” Granted, that was in reference to e-mail, but the idea holds.

 

Now for the other part of that obscure thought I mentioned … what a difference it would make if we approached God’s Word with that same anticipation! I’m currently using a “Book-at-a-Time Bible Reading Plan” from www.discipleshipjournal.com, and today’s passages were Judges 16-18 and Proverbs 19:1-14. Sure, I could approach it reading about Samson and Delilah, the problems of Israel, and a bunch of proverbial statements, and I might have gotten something out of it. But, what if I approached it with anticipation, wondering what “mail” or message God had for me today? That perspective can make a big impact, as it moves devotions from something that could be mundane to something with unlimited potential.

 

For example, I could take Proverbs 19:14 “House and wealth are inherited from fathers, but a prudent wife is from the LORD” and gloss over it. Or, I could consider that it is a reminder from God that Janette is a gift from God, thanking Him for her prudence and honoring Janette though something so simple as a Facebook post and this message you are reading.

 

So, today, I encourage you to approach God’s Word with anticipation and curiosity. Before you begin to read, ask yourself, what message, or “mail,” does God have for me today?

In His grip,
Pastor Decker