Did You Miss The Point
Ron Owens
4/23/97
DID YOU MISS THE POINT?
When it has to do with others and their lives, I can see the best alternatives and the proper actions so well. What I can’t understand is why they can’t see the same things as easily.
David could see the point when the story was about two men and their livestock. One was rich and one was poor, and the rich man defrauded the poor man. Yet the parallel to his own taking of Bathsheba and his murder of her husband went completely unnoticed as David pronounced harsh judgment on the rich livestock owner. He could see it in others, but he couldn’t recognize it in his own life.
Balaam was so determined to get down the road to riches, fame, and opportunity that he could not see what even his poor donkey could recognize. The religious leaders of Christ’s day were so busy looking for a Messiah that they didn’t recognize him when he arrived in their midst. Instead, they argued with him, dogged him with their questions and suspicions, and finally killed him.
Jesus turned the tables on his blind contemporaries. When they brought the woman caught in adultery to him, he reminded them of their own shortcomings. Scripture tries to remind us from start to finish that the information contained in Holy Writ was not given so we would know when and where to throw stones at others. Instead, God wrote these things so we could realize that we all live in glass houses - and must be careful of throwing stones.
The point is that you and I can make the same mistakes as those who have come before us. If we are not careful, we can see the truth only as it applies to others. But the lesson is for us. It is always for us.
—Ron Owens
