Eyes On The Master

Eyes on the Master

Don’t waste what is holy on people who are unholy. Don’t throw your pearls to pigs! They will trample the pearls, then turn and attack you.

Matthew 7:6

When the apostle Paul appeared before Festus, the governor of Judea, the ruler shouted at him, “Paul, you are insane. Too much study has made you crazy!” (Acts 26:24). And honestly, I’ve met a few educationally mad professors and scientists in my time, too, haven’t you? Even more often than that, I’ve read works by highly educated authors who seem to think that vocabulary is more important than communication. My question is, why use a three-dollar word when a fifty-cent one will do?

English painter C. R. W. Nevinson once said, “It was a privilege to paint Mark Hambourg, a dear friend.” He said he had never met a man with such a gift for penetrating to the heart of things, and by the use of a few vivid phrases, Hambourg could lift any conversation out of the ordinary.

Nevinson said he remembered sitting beside Hambourg at an after-dinner concert one night when the great pianist Benno Moiseivitch was playing. The audience—all men and women of culture—were anything but attentive. While Moiseivitch played, they were smoking, drinking, coughing, picking their teeth, wriggling around in their chairs, and in general, being disrespectful.

Meanwhile, the waiters and waitresses stood entranced, their eyes on the master musician.

“Look,” said Hambourg, glancing around at the crowd. “Just look at the effect of education. It kills all concentration. Those considered the lower classes are the only people left who can listen and respond to the highest emotions of mankind.”

It is interesting, isn’t it—sometimes ignorance walks hand in hand with wisdom, and education keeps company with the foolish. Go figure!

Dear Lord, thank you for making your Word both plain and simple enough for people to understand and obey. I know heaven will be filled with educated and uneducated people who simply chose to follow your will and your way. Amen.