Seeing, they do not see

I want to set some thoughts down. Some 20 years and 5 months ago I was baptised, having received the gift of the Holy Spirit 8 years previously. I was fortunate to have been led to a group of true believers. I am not a Pastor or elder of the fellowship.

One thing that has been clear to me from the beginning has been the truth of Jesus' words recorded in Matthew 13:13

they, seeing, see not; and, hearing, they hear not, neither do they understand.

Experience has given me some appreciation of what it must have been like for Noah when he tried to warn of the oncoming destruction by water. We are told in Matthew 24:37-39 that mankind has not learnt:

But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,

And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

I have a sister who professes to be a Christian. Unfortunately, the word 'Christian' itself is misunderstood and I've taken as the theme of this blog yet another passage from Matthew (7:13-14)

Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:

Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

Many of those professing to be His followers do not realise how strait is the gate and how narrow the way. In my childhood, attending meetings of a group which professed to be Christian, I thought 'Christianity' to be the narrow way and everything else to be the broad way. Not so. One more quotation, this time from John 4:23

But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. [emphasis added]

God seeks "the true worshippers". They are those who "worship ... in spirit and in truth". In later posts I want to examine what that means.