The Living Word: A Daily Devotional with Jeff & Dale from The Jenkins Institute
The Living Word is a daily devotional featuring Scripture and encouragement from Jeff and Dale of The Jenkins Institute. Each episode offers a thoughtful reading to coincide with the daily devotional guides from our annual devotional books. They are designed to help listeners begin or end their day grounded in God’s Word.
The Living Word: A Daily Devotional with Jeff & Dale from The Jenkins Institute
Week 20: Tuesday, Loose Hair and A Burnt Vine
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Hair is a funny thing. We recognize the beauty of hair on other
people. We compliment women and men alike for their long,
flowing, wavy locks of curly, blonde, brunette, or black hair, but all
bets are off when the hair becomes disconnected. We garner a very
different attitude toward hair that has fallen out. Hair covering the
shower drain is disgusting, even if it is our own hair. We don’t want
to touch it. A big clump of hair clogging the pipes will trigger our
gag reflex. “Waiter! There’s a hair in my food!” Thick, beautiful,
cascading hair is not so beautiful once it becomes disconnected
from the scalp. In fact, it becomes repulsive.
Welcome to Hearing God's Stories, a daily devotional on the parables presented by the Jickens Institute.
SPEAKER_01Week twenty Tuesday Loose Hair and a Burnt Vine. Today's Scripture Ezekiel chapter fifteen verse four and five by Chris McCurley and this is John Arvin. Behold, it is given to the fire for fuel. When the fire has consumed both ends of it, and the middle of it is charred, is it useful for anything? Behold, when it was whole, it was used for nothing. How much less when the fire has consumed it and it is charred, can it ever be used for anything? Hair is a funny thing. We recognize the beauty of hair on other people. We compliment women and men alike for their long, flowing, wavy locks of curly blonde, brunette, or black hair, but all bets are off when the hair becomes disconnected. We garner a very different attitude toward hair that has fallen out. Hair covering the shower drain is disgusting, even if it is our own hair. We don't want to touch it. A big clump of hair clogging the pipes will trigger our gag reflex. Waiter, there's a hair in my food. Thick, beautiful, cascading hair is not so beautiful once it becomes disconnected from the scalp. In fact, it becomes repulsive. Our previous devotional focused on Ezekiel calling out the people of God for their blatant disobedience. He refers to them as a worthless vine. He takes the illustration even further with the image of a charred vine. The wood from a vine that has been burned at both ends is rendered useless. Again, Israel is often referred to as the vine in Scripture. God is condemning them through Ezekiel for their lack of productivity. By failing to produce spiritual fruit, they were like a wild vine only fit for the fire, which is a reference to divine punishment. What was the root cause of Israel's failure? They had lost their connection. Just as hair becomes repulsive when disconnected from the scalp, the vine becomes worthless when disconnected from the source. Israel needed to reconnect. Do you? Today I will work on my connection by spending time alone with the Father.
SPEAKER_00Thank you for joining us for the Living Word. For more encouragement and ministry resources, visit the Jenkins Institute dot com, and may God's richest blessings be yours, is our prayer for you.