Contemplative Bible Reading

Galatians 1:11 (New Living Translation)

11 Dear brothers and sisters, I want you to understand that the gospel message I preach is not based on mere human reasoning.

This is taken from a letter that Paul wrote to Christians living in Galatia. Paul was a reasonable and reasoning person. The text of the Acts of the Apostles states that Paul had a custom of going to Synagogues and reasoning with people from the scriptures.

The gospel message, however, is not based on mere human reasoning. No one taught the gospel message to Paul. Instead, it is based on revelation from God.

This all makes sense. None of this makes sense. The reasonable Paul is not reasonable. The reasonable Paul lives by faith, by something unseen and un-see-able. He teaches good news from God.

We live in a scientific or post-scientific age (I lost track of these things). We live by electricity, central heat, central air conditioning, refrigeration, smartphones, smart TVs, reasonable everything. We revolt against all this on days when it is convenient, but the other 90% of the time we bathe in it.

Good news from God? Well, we enjoy the good news from the electric company, Apple, and Samsung. Those folks are reasonable. No wonder I need so much forgiveness for my unbelief.