Perceptions #200139

"PRECONCLUSION-ITUS"

by James Bailey

I read the other day about a man who had never really been on a farm but decided that he would become a gentleman farmer. He purchased a beautiful, large farm and moved in the house. Then he went to the hatchery and bought a hundred baby chicks. Soon they all died. So he bought another hundred baby chicks and pretty soon they all died too. The man was confused and looking for answers. He wrote a letter to the county extension agent and explained the problem. He told him how he wanted to be a successful chicken farmer and needed to know what he was doing wrong. He asked if he could possibly be planting the chickens too close together, or perhaps too deep. The county agent responded by letter that he could not answer his question until he sent in a soil sample.

What we have here is a case of "incorrect-preconclusion." Someone has jumped to a conclusion (that chicks should be planted in the ground) and is operating under the assumption that this conclusion is correct. Fact is, it isn't correct. Now we may smile, but it is far from a humorous matter when we use "incorrect-preconclusions" in matters of the soul. The affliction will make us begin to use Scripture as a place to find verses to shore-up what we have already decided, instead of studying the Bible to see what God has said there to us. "Preconclusion-itus" is even more deadly to us spiritually when we start to mix our personal traditions with Biblical admonitions. Things such as order of worship, when to pray, in what position we should pray, how something God told us fits into our schedule may and do have an immediate impact on our lives. But to assume that the "way I have always done it" should take precedent over the "way someone else has done it" is to be rather self-serving. The remedy for all this is to study the scriptures themselves for what they have to say to us. Allow God to communicate to us what His will is for us, without bending those things around opinion, either our own or those of our spiritual heroes. Even King Saul got into "hot water" when he assumed that God wanted him to do other than what God had said for him to do. God's Word is exciting and it is extremely informative for our daily needs. So this week dare to read the Bible for all its worth. You are in for a time of wonderful discovery."

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