Morning Devotional 11522 Photos versus Videos

Liz’s Morning Devotional based upon Upper Room

January 15, 2022

Read John 20:24-29

24 Thomas, the one called Didymus, one of the Twelve, wasn’t with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 The other disciples told him, “We’ve seen the Lord!” But he replied, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands, put my finger in the wounds left by the nails, and put my hand into his side, I won’t believe.” 26 After eight days his disciples were again in a house and Thomas was with them. Even though the doors were locked, Jesus entered and stood among them. He said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here. Look at my hands. Put your hand into my side. No more disbelief. Believe!” 28 Thomas responded to Jesus, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus replied, “Do you believe because you see me? Happy are those who don’t see and yet believe.”

Good Morning! We are of one body! Be accepting to all!

The cold air has moved into our area as we prepare for another storm. Watching the weather patterns is quite fascinating to me. When you look at the immediate signs, you get a reasonably clear picture as you consider what will happen from one hour to the next. After all, the front that is controlling the weather is already in place. When you start creating long-range forecasts, it is a very different task because fronts do not stay on course in direction or speed which causes meteorologists great challenges. Bottom line: do all that you can to stay safe and warm over the next few days.

One of the great movements in education over the thirty years is the study of learning styles. If you remember your own days in a classroom, you probably had at least one stereotypic monotone teacher who rarely even looked at his/her students as he/she droned on for what seemed like hours. However, even the “good” teachers tended to lecture while their students took notes. Once in a while, we did an experiment or fun activity, but no one had yet determined the need for a variety of teaching methods so that students of diverse learning styles could learn the material.

Today, educators around the world are taught to provide a variety of learning opportunities within their classrooms. Sometimes we need to sit and listen, but other times we might need to engage our other senses to truly understand the concept. I appreciate the approach in teaching math that emphasizes the need to develop number sense. It’s not enough to be able to complete an algorithm and arrive at a solution because without number sense you are unable to realize when your solution is not a possible answer. i.e. your answer to a subtraction problem is larger than the number with which you began.

Oops, I digress! I fell into teacher mode. LOL

So, let’s get back to Thomas! Over the years, I have always had empathy for doubting Thomas. The science side of my brain likes to see the evidence before I make a decision. Let’s take a moment to think about all of the things that go viral in today’s world. There are so many tools for those who wish to make something look real with video editing and photo editing. Totally unbelievable things can appear to be real, so sometimes seeing isn’t enough.

I believe that we have to examine what it means to visibly see something on the surface versus to see within or what is hidden or obscured from sight. To see on the surface means that you only see what is there right before your eyes at that very moment. Whereas to see within means that you look deeper and see all that has happened to allow you to reach this moment. For instance, when you look at a photo, you see a moment in time immortalized forever. You might capture a smile or a look of surprise: a precious moment. When you look at a video, you see what precipitated and what happened next with the emotion that was captured in the photo.

For Thomas, he needed to “see” within by using touching so that he could understand. We are called to believe without visibly seeing Christ as a physical being, but when we engage our senses, we will “see” within our everyday lives and find Christ surrounding us, even in the most unexpected moments. We must work on looking at the video of our lives so that we can embrace all of the evidence of Christ as He leads us on our journey of faith.

Creator God, Thank You for loving us. May we learn to look past the surface and engage in the treasures hidden within. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen

Thought for the day: Using all my senses can open me to God’s presence.

Dive under the surface! Pastor Liz