Plato

So...I'm sitting her (supposed to be) reading Plato's Republic...bleck.  I seriously reading hundreds of pages from "the great philosopher" Plato.  I mean, yeah, it's great to study primary sources and all that edyoo-muhkashonul stuff, but I'm kinda over it.  Plato is literally spending hundreds of pages defining "justice."  And answering the questions "What is a just person?" and "What is a just city?"  Really now.  Come on.

Then, as I was feeling as though this task of reading was beyond my capabilities, I had a thought.  (Don't be too shocked...yes, Plato can stimulate thinking though what I was thinking about was totally unrelated to justice.)  K...so my thought...

People spend their whole lives studying Plato and Aristotle and Socrates trying to come up with some cohesive meaning behind it all.  Meanwhile, the text is about as hard to read as it gets.  Words that I've never seen before.  Phrases that don't make sense.  Paragraphs comprised of one stinkin sentence.

Then I got to thinking, how incredibly BLESSED we are to have a God who understands us in our weakness--that He would not only send us His son in our place, but that He gave us a whole book for us to study in order that we might live to glorify Him!  His Word is easy enough to understand that Kindergarteners can understand John 3:16 and yet so complex that you can study it for a whole lifetime and be learning more and more until your dying breath.  The Word of God is SO rich and so good, it's water to my weary soul.  I'm so thankful that we have a God who sympathizes with us in our weakness, He gave us His love letter in words we, mere humans, can understand.

That said, I need to get back to Plato (ugh), but I thought I'd take a minute and remind you of the sweet, sweet words of Paul:

"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.  And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."  Colossians 3:16-17

With this command, how can we not find time to spend in the Word each and every day?  Our God is worthy of our intellect, our study, our early morning hours.  Our God is worthy of our devotion, our focus and our desire.  Our God is worthy of our time, talents and treasure.  Our God is worthy of our praise.