Scripture: 1 Corinthians 4:20
For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.

Thought for the Day: I love a good theological discussion. Yesterday, for sale some representatives from the Jehovah’s Witnesses knocked on my door and started talking to me about “paradise,” which they believe was at one time a real, physical place on Earth, and will be yet again, according to what they claim are prophecies in the Bible. So the discussion first started off with me informing them that the Bible is not a fortune-telling text like the “prophecies” of Nostradamus (which isn’t a prophetic text either), but rather an account of very specific communities struggling to understand their relationship to God and their place in the world.

As the debate continued I realized that we were getting caught up in the minutiae of the Bible, rather than focusing on it’s ultimate meaning. And the most interesting thing happened with that realization. I steered the conversation to what we, as people of faith, even if we disagree about specifics, are called to do as children of God. And suddenly, we agreed about everything, especially the idea that all people of faith are called to help create the kingdom of God by living in right and constant relationship with God. We agreed that it is our duty to bring comfort and hope to the discomforted and hopeless, to convince both people of faith and secular humanists that we have a job to do: change the world into a more loving and just place, one person at a time, by letting God work in our lives more powerfully than the material world that surrounds us.

Our discussion was wonderful, but realizing the power of God within and our duty to trust that power was inspirational to all of us. I thanked my Jehovah’s friends, and look forward to seeing them again.

Prayer: May I always be aware that your message comes from the most unexpected places, God of all creation, and understand that from your power I gain the ability to not only discuss the beauty of your Word, but more importantly, also gain the power to actually do something about it. Amen.