The second day- transparency is God’s way

Thank you for all the support I received yesterday, it meant a lot.    Joani, thanks for the discussion.  

Yesterday I finished the first chapter.  He is still only nine!  The section I want to highlight is:

“The devil is no fool. He can get people feeling about heaven the way they ought to feel about hell. He can make them fear the means of grace the way they do not fear sin.  And he does so not by light but by obscurity, not by realities but by shadows; not by clarity and substance , but by dreams and creatures of psychosis.  And men are so poor in intellect that a few cold chills down their spines will be enough to keep them from ever finding out the truth about anything.”    Pg 26-27

Background here is young Thomas and his brother are living with his maternal grandparents in America, New York City to be exact. His grandfather isn’t religious but hates Jews and Catholics.  Thomas grew up thinking all Catholics were thieves.  Remember this is white middle class America in the mid 1920s. 

When I was young I believed in the devil with horns and a tail.  As I became an intellectual I stopped believing.  I knew there was the opposite of good as a concept of course but that was just man failing.  I believe in evil again, I have seen it here in America and in Africa. I don’t know if it is a “he” with horns and a tail but there is a force working against God’s plan for us.  This passage reminds me that the devil works in “obscurity and shadow”.  In my dealings with others I should be truthful and clear. 

The second point I take away is how little does it take for me to have a poor opinion of someone?  I easily believe negative things about other people particularly if it fits my preconceived notions.  I guess it doesn’t take much to “send chills down my spine” with my poor intellect!

My prayer for today is Lord, help me to be honest in my dealings with others, and own my actions.  Help me to give others the benefit of the doubt when I hear things and not be quick to judge others particularly based on race, economics or gender.

Pax

Joe