KneEmail - a devotional by Mike Benson associated with Forthright Magazine
Manual
HAVE YOU EVER tried to figure out the remote control for your television set...?
I find myself calling our cable company at least once or twice a year to say, "Hey, how do I make this thing work?" Inevitably, some techie on the other end of the line asks, "Well, Sir, did you read the instruction manual?"
You're probably like me -- you either can't bring yourself to actually read an owner's manual or you can't decipher the hieroglyphics if you do read it. There is nothing more irritating than a manual for whatever gadget, gizmo, or appliance you might have.
During my research, I discovered one group of professionals tha apparently isn't into owner's manuals. A sign in an engineering firm's reception area read: "Real engineers don't read owner's manuals. Reliance on a reference book is a hallmark of the novice and coward." Another wall held the following sign: "Real engineers don't seek technical support. To do so is a sign of weakness." Engineers may be the only ones in our society who can comprehend gadgets and devices without some kind of manual. The rest of us need help to figure out all the buttons, blinking lights, and electronics that overwhelm us.
THOUGHTS: As frustrated as we might become with electronic devices, there's something far more important we need help with: our lives and the problems we face, the challenges we encounter, and the sorrows we endure. Since we are created beings with a free will and a purpose for our lives, there must be some instructions for us somewhere that ensure we will function at optimal capacity. I would like to suggest that the Bible is just such a book, put here so you and I can live up to our maximum potential. In fact, if I were given the assignment of coming up with a new title for the Bible, it might very well be:
LIFE: AN OWNER'S MANUAL
Your Tiime-Honored, Time-Tested Guide to the
Here and Now
and the
Then and There. (Mike Macintosh)
KneEmail: "As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue" ( 2 Pet. 1:3).