Word for the day by Christian Education Forum

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 GROW IN THE DIVINE WISDOM

 1 Corinthians 1:18-25

V 19: "For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.” 

 
            If you go to your favorite media site for news and information, the latest trending topic in social media, online news sources, or in the investing world, is the idea of Artificial Intelligence (AI).  The media loves it because there is a lot of unknown and with such topics, you can create fearful headlines of computers taking over the world, and that results in clicks and that translates to advertising.  At the heart of AI is a computer that is fed information and it tries to learn patterns based on the volume of data it analyses. For example If you are trying to create a travel related AI system, you feed it favorite destinations, weather patterns, hotel reviews and it takes all this information and in the end you hope to get a recommended travel plan from it, by entering what you like to do on vacation and how much you would like to spend.    This is great, because it takes in a lot of information and gives you a suggestion of where to travel, where to stay, how long, what you should visit and you get an output with very minimal effort.  Convenient and easy, is exactly what we are looking for, and the output is generally a safe plan that has been traveled before.  The companies will sell it to you as a quick and easy “tailored” plan to your wants and desires for travel. 
            When we try to approach God with the same mindset to understand him quickly and easily with little effort, what we can realize is that God doesn’t conform to any pattern, and we can become frustrated if we approach with the quick and easy method.  No Artificial intelligence system would “learn” how God operates.   And if we approach God like any other subject matter, you would think reading more about God would help you figure out a pattern, but you realize it’s the opposite.  The more you read the Bible, you see story after story of people in the Bible that didn’t conform to any pattern known in this world and that was how they experienced God and how God’s glory was revealed. There was no pattern for salvation for the Ninevites, except a reluctant prophet named Jonah who was running away from God, who spent 3 days in the belly of the whale.  Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were instead steadfast in faith and defied all logic by standing up to the King and would escape unharmed from a hot fire.  And in the greatest display of love, God would use a shameful cross as the symbol of victory over Sin and Death.   The only way to truly understand the resurrection is not by memorizing it as history or by following a set of rules, or even having a computer try to analyze it, but by talking to God himself to reveal the power of Christ’s resurrection to you, through the Holy Spirit.   aul in Romans 12:2 says “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is, his good, pleasing, and perfect will.” 
            So how do you understand a God that doesn’t conform to a pattern, you simply ask God to reveal himself. Prayer will help us to be transformed and renew our minds. 

Prayer

Father, we pray that today you will show us how to live according to your good and perfect will.  Help us to resist the urge to conform to the patterns of this world. Encourage us with your Spirit to seek after you in all that we do today.  Amen.


Thought for the Day

What patterns of the world am I following? Does that pattern glorify God.  


Shibu Mathew
Epiphany Mar Thoma Church, NY

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