CURIOUS MINDS WANT TO KNOW

“He told them, “You don’t get to know the time.  Timing is the Father’s business.  What you’ll get is the Holy Spirit. And when the Holy Spirit comes on you, you will be able to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, all over Judea and Samaria, even to the ends of the world.” (Acts 1:8 MSG)

I almost entitled this meditation “Meddlers Will Meddle,” but I went with a more positive title, “Curious Minds Want To Know.”  This will make sense in a minute.  Yesterday afternoon I received a message from a reader who told me that she had printed that day’s meditation and placed it on the small conference table in her office.  She had cleared the table of everything else, leaving the meditation all by its lonesome, hoping it would gain attention of employees and vendor who ventured into her office.  To increase the chances of her hope becoming a reality, when individuals came to her office, she would ask them to have a seat at the conference table and informed them she would be right back, giving excuses such as, “I need to get some water” or, “I have to go to the mail room.”  Any excuse would do.  You see, her intention was that the person left alone at the conference table would read what was on the paper she had left out in the open, the daily meditation.  She was operating under the well-known premise that curious minds want to know.  Oh, come on, I’ll say it!  You’re thinking it!  She knew that people would meddle with another person’s stuff, out of curiosity, given the opportunity.

Guess what?  Her premise proved to be perfectly accurate.  Also, her strategy worked!  More than two visitors in her office struck up a conversation centered around “…And The Home Of The Brave” meditation.  Her motive preempted business conversations and priority was given to a talking about how a God-conscious and God-fearing society would make life so much better on many fronts, ranging from relationships to the revered houses of government at the highest ranks.  Give your fellow reader a silent applause in your mind.

Her strategy was not foreign to me.  I remember decades ago, at a time when discord or disruption had invaded my home, I would read a passage of Scripture to help me personally.  Assuming the passage was a God-sent word, sent for a specific purpose and to be shared with others in the house  for a specific purpose; to resolve the discord, the disruption, and the associated ill effects of a disagreement, a dispute, or definite strife stirred up by the devil, I would leave my Bible open to the Scripture I had read for my personal benefit on a table or place where other would easily notice it.  I was working from the same perspective, operation on the same premise as the reader I described above. I was applying the same adage, “Curious minds want to know.”  Admittedly I was not as fortunate as the reader to have follow-up conversations based on what I left in clear view, but by the repositioning of the Bible, it was apparently read, and the revival of a non-discord environment was dismissed.  I have to believe it had been read.  It was a silent way of peacemaking.  Oh come on again! Give me some silent applause too!

Why did it work?  It’s simple, easy to explain.  You see, God’s word is tool that we can use more to keep the peace in our families, change the nature of relationships outside of the church, and walk together in harmony as children of God should.  But let me say this before closing.  You don’t always have to use the approach we focused on above.  Sometimes you just have to merely speak out, speaking in the right way, the right tone, the right pitch, the right speed and with the right body language, saying exactly what the word of God says.  You may even go as far as to start your conversation or rebuttal with Jesus’ words that He spoke when tempted, “It is written…” 

As always, I hope I have left you with something positive to think about; something that can be useful in your own life.  The next step is up to you.  Depend on the Holy Spirit within you to decide what you do next.  Share a word or at the least, devise your own technique to start a God-oriented conversation for the benefit of self and others.  You can always use the silent method based on the premise that curious minds want to know.  You have options now!  Have a wonderful Thursday!  I’ll “talk” with you tomorrow, Lord willing.  Be blessed!

“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness…” (2 Timothy 3:16)

Still committed to the climb, 

Mark L. King