In his recently-published anthology...
Illustration
In his recently-published anthology of word-studies and matching illustrations,1 Dr. Edward Chinn recounts the tale of Dr. Albert Einstein who once made a lecture tour by traveling to universities in a chauffeur-driven car. One day while he was on his way to the next campus, the chauffeur said to Einstein: "You know, I've heard you deliver that lecture on the theory of relativity about thirty times. I know it by heart. I bet I could give it myself." Dr. Einstein replied: "Well, I'll give you the chance. At this next university the people have never seen me. When we get there, I'll put on your chauffeur's cap and you introduce yourself as me and give the lecture." That afternoon the chauffeur delivered Einstein's lecture flawlessly. When he was finished, he started to leave the platform, but he was stopped by a mathematics professor who asked him a complex question.
That's not (to paraphrase Paul Harvey) "the end of the story." If you want to read the surprising finish, you'll want to pick up a copy of the book. But here's the point, in the context of the Scripture from Jeremiah: it's one thing to "hear" and even "absorb" the truth; it's quite another to assimilate it until it becomes part of us, so that we need no longer look about for an interpreter or teacher. What we learn (and remember) by accident and what we embrace because we're ready and eager for it are two completely separate things. They're the differences between living under an old or a new covenant.
1. The Wonder of Words: One-hundred Words and Phrases Shaping How Christians Think and Live, by Edward Chinn, 1985, CSS, Number 5822.
That's not (to paraphrase Paul Harvey) "the end of the story." If you want to read the surprising finish, you'll want to pick up a copy of the book. But here's the point, in the context of the Scripture from Jeremiah: it's one thing to "hear" and even "absorb" the truth; it's quite another to assimilate it until it becomes part of us, so that we need no longer look about for an interpreter or teacher. What we learn (and remember) by accident and what we embrace because we're ready and eager for it are two completely separate things. They're the differences between living under an old or a new covenant.
1. The Wonder of Words: One-hundred Words and Phrases Shaping How Christians Think and Live, by Edward Chinn, 1985, CSS, Number 5822.
