Curiosity about Paul developed into reverence for the Master Jesus. – Acts 19:18 (The Message)

It’s interesting, the things people believe and the things they don’t. I have always heard that Edgar Allen Poe was addicted to cocaine and lived in his own haunted world. Reading some of his stories, it made sense that he was not a fellow who liked to tip toe through the tulips. I heard, the other day, that this was not the case. Apparently, Poe was a reputable author who happened to run afoul of a vindictive publisher. It seems that, at his death, this publisher took over the funeral and ran articles in his paper that Poe was not the nice person people had thought.

We do the same things today – and not just in newspapers. We have so many ways of getting information out to the public now – there are all the social medias, radio, and TV as well as a newspaper (either print or digital).

An article about the birth of a rare white buffalo came to the newspaper where I work. The lady who brought the information was so excited to get this news and the excitement spread through the office until an enterprising lady decided to check on the facts of the story. Calling the National Buffalo Registry, she discovered that they had not heard anything about a white buffalo being born.

Unlike the publisher who redefined the reputation of Edgar Allen Poe, the lady with the story about the buffalo was just passing along information that she had received. She wasn’t pushing any agenda. But how many agendas get pushed when money is involved? How many politicians or big businesses can start or stop a news story just because it may affect their monetary bottom line?

It’s getting to the point where we almost have to look into all the information we come across if we’re thinking about using it for anything. The thing is that this can work both ways.

After Paul was converted to Christianity, he traveled all over the place preaching about Jesus Christ. It seems that a lot of miracles happened around Paul and people started taking pieces of Paul’s clothes. When they came across someone who was sick, they would touch Paul’s clothes to the sick person and healing would occur!

Some non-Christian people decided to cash in on Paul’s “game” and started praying over sick people in the name of Jesus. It didn’t work – but it did make people more curious about Paul. In doing some background checks on Paul, people started to pay more attention to what he was saying. More and more people began to believe in Jesus because Paul didn’t try to be someone he wasn’t. Paul was just who he was—someone sharing his love of Jesus.  

Sometimes, I think we can reach our goals faster if we just pay more attention to what is in front of us rather than trying to compete with others around us. It’s a thought!

Becky Gillette is a former teacher, newspaper reporter, and preacher who seeks to take an original approach to life’s lessons. She has recently published her first book, Jessie’s Corner: Something To Think About, which is now available for purchase. Based on several lesser-known scriptures from the Bible, this is a collection of articles which she wrote for a weekly newspaper.