Consider for the next few minutes a wonderful gift that many people take for granted.  What is that gift?  You are doing it right now.  It’s the gift of literacy.  History tells us that for centuries the masses lacked the ability to read.  As for the Bible, it was written in ancient languages and read only by scholars and priests.  Ordinary people did not read the Bible because they could not.    This period of history is appropriately referred to as the Dark Ages (AD 500 – 1500).  It was most certainly a time of intellectual and spiritual darkness.

And then two notable events occurred that brought about wholesale change.  The first was the invention of the moveable type printing press by the German printer and publisher, Johannes Gutenberg (AD 1439).  The second event was the Protestant Reformation led by the German monk and professor of theology, Martin Luther (AD 1517).

The Protestants believed that people should be able to read the Bible for themselves in their native language.  They also started the idea of mass-education which provided the opportunity for the general public to learn how to read.  So the Bible translators went to work.  The printing presses began producing countless copies of the Bible, and people began to read the Word of God for themselves.  

The result was a spiritual and cultural revolution of seismic proportions.  The words of Isaiah 9:2 come to mind, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.”  These and other developments quickly ushered the world out of the Dark Ages into the incredible period of history known as the Renaissance (lit., new birth).  

History teaches us that when people are kept in the dark and held in a state of ignorance, bad things happen.  Even the Word of God states, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6).  So read!  Start with the Bible and then add good books to your repertoire that will feed your mind and soul.  If you don’t love to read, learn to love it.  In this month where we have talked so much about priorities, add this one to your list – the priority of reading.

Pastor Todd Weston  

Options; don’t you love them?  

Last week we met a friend at Royal Scoop for ice cream.  The delightful dilemma facing an ice cream connoisseur at Royal Scoop is that of choosing from their umpteen million flavors.  Will it be Royal Fudge Swirl, Orange Pineapple, Chocolate Tri-scrumptious, Southern Pecan Cinnamon Delight, or Mocha Caramel Crunch (just to name a few)?

After numerous samples and several minutes of carefully weighing our options, we all made our orders.  Sitting around the table a few minutes later, I observed the various ice cream flavors that had been ordered by our group.  Do you want to guess what our friend ordered?  Vanilla!  Not Vanilla Bean, or Homemade Vanilla, or French Vanilla.  Having considered all the options, she went with the flavor she liked best; just plain vanilla.

Life is full of choices, and the options are many.  As Christians, we must first choose the right over the wrong.  That’s obvious.  But it doesn’t end there.  In the realm of the right you may still have many options from which to choose.  That is where we must carefully and prayerfully choose not just that which is good, but that which is best.  

In order to do this we must establish godly priorities.  When ordering ice cream I can go with personal preference, but in life I must live by biblical priorities.  In the month of August we are going to be talking about priorities.  My prayer for the RLA family as we go through this series is that we will prioritize our lives according to biblical values and then live accordingly.  It will take commitment, but the end result is blessing.  As Jesus said, ”But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:33).

Pastor Todd Weston