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 Look
at a man who found the way of salvation (Acts 8: 26—39). Do
you know the secret of his success?
He
had AN OPEN BOOK. We first meet him reading from the scriptures
(Ver. 28). “Have you not read” (Mt. 12: 3,5;19:4; 21:16
etc.) and “What saith the scriptures?” (Rom. 4:3) are
inspired appeals for open Bibles. Jesus said the Sadducees were
wrong about the resurrection “not knowing the Scriptures, nor
the power of God.” (Matt. 22:29). Is it strange to find people
wrong about spiritual things when they never open their Bibles?
“Whereby,
when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of
Christ” (Eph. 3:4). Confusion is banished by knowledge.
Reading an open book — is the first key to “understanding
what the will of the Lord is” (Eph. 5:17).
Many
people avow they are looking for truth yet they never open their
Bibles. They claim to love truth but refuse to discuss the
scriptures. Something is wrong somewhere! “. . . thy word is
truth” (Jno. 17:17).
The
man from Ethiopia also had AN OPEN MIND. Many people protest
they cannot understand scripture. The problem may not be so much
hard scripture as hard hearts. People observed the miracles of
Jesus but just “couldn’t see” that he was Christ. Why?
They closed their eyes. (Matt. 13:15). It is hard to see
anything with your eyes closed!
Consider
the parable of the good Samaritan (Lk. 10: 29-36). Why couldn’t
the priest and Levite see the wounded man?
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Was he hidden? No, they knew he was there.
The Samaritan had no problem finding him. Suppose we move the
wounded man into the middle of the road where you can’t walk
around him
— the priest and Levite will just
look up, step over, and keep walking! Attitude makes the
difference. The Samaritan was willing to see.
Prejudice
(pre-judging) is an enemy of the quest for truth. A verdict is
reached before the evidence is heard. Nathaniel didn’t ask
Phillip how he knew Jesus of Nazareth to be the Christ; he just
said, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” (Jno. 1:45,
46). He made up his mind when he heard Nazareth mentioned.
Likewise, Jesus was discredited in Nazareth — his family were
all common people( Mk. 6: 2-4). Stephen preached the truth and
was killed (Acts 7: 51-60). These people were — as he charged
— “stiff necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears”
(closed minded).
“Come
and see” (Jno. 1:46) is the only answer to prejudice. An
honest heart will consider the facts — and change when wrong.
Others will find excuses or ignore the situation completely.
An
OPEN MIND and an OPEN BOOK can be the secret to your
success. It was for the Bereans. “ they received the word with
all readiness of mind — an open mind — and searched the
scriptures daily — an open book — whether those things were
so” (Acts 17:11). Or you can close your mind and Bible and
drift gently on waves of self satisfaction to
hell! Joe Fitch
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