For those of you who enjoy music you may appreciate this song about Galilee. You will be able to enjoy some nice scenery while listening to a song about how the significance of that area as remained over the years. And there is indeed a lot of religious significance because that region of Israel is mentioned multiple times in the Bible.
Yeshua taught various lessons in that area we can still learn from today. “That same day Yeshua left the house and sat down by the Sea of Galilee. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat. He sat in the boat while the entire crowd stood on the shore. Then he used stories as illustrations to tell them many things.” Matthew 13:1-3 But fortunately for us, as nice as visiting Galilee can be we don’t have to walk there to walk with wisdom now.
We can benefit from the lessons that were taught even if we live far away and in another time period. Yeshua explained his teachings, “’Listen to what the story about the farmer means. Someone hears the word about the kingdom but doesn’t understand it. The evil one comes at once and snatches away what was planted in him. This is what the seed planted along the road illustrates. The seed planted on rocky ground is the person who hears the word and accepts it at once with joy. Since he doesn’t have any root, he lasts only a little while. When suffering or persecution comes along because of the word, he immediately falls from faith. The seed planted among thorn bushes is another person who hears the word. But the worries of life and the deceitful pleasures of riches choke the word so that it can’t produce anything. But the seed planted on good ground is the person who hears and understands the word. This type produces crops. They produce one hundred, sixty, or thirty times as much as was planted.” Matthew 13:18-23
If you don’t understand something don’t allow your ego to make you dismissive by automatically assuming that anything outside of your current level of understanding must not be logical or true. Don’t disregard good principles just because faithfulness might be inconvenient in the short term because in the long run you can lose out on much by doing so. Don’t allow yourself to be distracted from good priorities by things of lesser importance. And remember to tend to the soil of your mind because you are the one who gets to decide what your mindset and character will be. But in order to avoid the weeds of poor thinking or having a closed off stoney mindset you have to be willing to be honest with yourself and admit when you are wrong and where you have room to grow. Yes, circumstances can make adjusting our thinking hard but like a garden that also takes effort we can still till the soil of the mind and do our best to create an environment that invites growth. Don’t forget the lessons from Galilee.
