January 10 and 11
"As by faith Abraham went forth at the call of God, "not knowing whither he went" (Heb. 11:8); as by faith Israel followed the pillar of cloud to the Promised Land, so did these Gentiles go forth to find the promised Saviour. The Eastern country abounded in precious things, and the magi did not set out empty-handed. It was the custom to offer presents as an act of homage to princes or other personages of rank, and the richest gifts the land afforded were borne as an offering to Him in whom all the families of the earth were to be blessed."
Desire of Ages, page 60 from the chapter, 'We have seen His star'
“As by faith” the scientists went forth. Some of the people you and your prayer partner are praying for are scientists by profession or by training. The thought is that everything has to have a measurable proof before there can be action. Those scientists did not have measurable proof.
At the heart of science is the idea that people should develop theories and then test those theories by experiment and observation. Once tested and proved those theories then become laws.
I could suggest that the three wise men had observed the star and created a theory about the star. They collected their observations from the skies and from the library and decided to make closer observations of the star. They were testing the theory with an open mind.
Becky Manley Pippert trains people to share their faith effectively. Her most famous book, ‘Out of the salt shaker’ suggests the following. Ask a person who does not know God to read a book of the Bible. As soon as that reader finds a command they should do what they are asked to do without questioning the reasons why. At the end of the month the person is asked, “Did your reading make a difference to your life?”
Many people are able to say that their life is better as a result of following the teachings of the Bible. Those individuals have open-mindedly tested a theory and found a result that gives satisfaction.
Keep praying for your scientifically trained friends. There is hope that they could observe your lifestyle and come up with the theory that perhaps the Christian faith has some relevance to their lives. They might test their theory out and discover that being a Christian works for them.
Where is the faith in all this? It starts with your faith that God can do marvellous things – even with scientists. The faith attitude develops as you recognise that God can do marvellous things when He is observed, tested and proved. The faith can then later be seen as, perhaps, your friends come to faith in Jesus as their Saviour.
Keep praying for your scientific friends. They are not hopeless cases. Wikipedia has a good list of Christians who are scientists. Christianity really does make sense.
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Housekeeping details for you
The point of this short blog will become clear if you decide to use this reading in the way we intend it. Netherfield Seventh-day Adventist Church believes in healthy churches. You can see what that means if you head to the relevant Healthy Churches page of the website. We also want other churches to be healthy. That means you can join in our campaign to create healthy churches, with healthy people serving the people in those churches.
A healthy church is one where Jesus comes first. A healthy church is one where the people work together to put Jesus first. One thing we are doing is to join people together to spread that news. I would like you to look at our prayer partners page. This will explain how we want you to use this short devotional. Very basically we want you to find a like-minded Christian friend who you will join with to : choose to pray together every day, decide together on a way to serve other people together, to help them grow as Christians - and to invite the Holy Spirit into your life every day. This blog that you will receive every day simply gives a common spiritual purpose. If you are a newcomer and want to join the blog with this object in mind click here
