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April.26.05: Light for the Day - "Chalk Mark"

-- Mark 12:24 
Jesus replied, "Your problem is that you don’t know the Scriptures, and you don’t know the power of God."

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Charles Steinmetz was an electrical engineer of towering intellect. After retiring, he was asked by a major appliance manufacturer to locate a malfunction in their electrical equipment. None of the manufacturer's experts had been able to locate the problem. Steinmertz spent some time walking around and testing the various parts of the machine complex.  Finally, he took out of his pocket a piece of chalk and marked an X on a particular part of one machine. The manufacturer's people disassembled the machine, discovering to their amazement that the defect lay precisely where Steinmertz's chalk mark was located.

Some days later, the manufacturer received a bill from Steinmertz for ten thousand dollars. They protested the amount and asked him to itemize it. He sent back an itemized bill:
      Making one chalk mark ...........$ 1
      Knowing where to place it ....... $ 9,999

If you know where the chalk marks go, the most overwhelming tasks are easily solved. If you don't, even simple tasks can be impossible.

Learning about the Bible can be much the same. If you don't know much about it, it can be like trying to cross the Sahara Desert blindfolded. Yet if you learn where a few of the major chalk marks go, the Bible can be at the very least an interesting and valuable of information and inspiration.

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-- Proverbs 22:6 
Train up a child in the way he should go, 
And when he is old he will not depart from it.

-- 2 Timothy 3:14-17
14 But you must remain faithful to the things you have been taught. You know they are true, for you know you can trust those who taught you.
15 You have been taught the holy Scriptures from childhood, and they have given you the wisdom to receive the salvation that comes by trusting in Christ Jesus.
16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It straightens us out and teaches us to do what is right.
17 It is God’s way of preparing us in every way, fully equipped for every good thing God wants us to do.

-- John 8:31-32
31 Jesus said to the people who believed in Him, "You are truly My disciples if you keep obeying My teachings. 
32 And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

-- Matthew 28:19-20
19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."