In Him you also, when you heard the Word of truth, the Gospel of your salvation, and believed in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of His glory. Ephesians 1:13-14

Alvin Barr is a seller of antiques.

That being said, a number of years ago he paid $300 for a mysterious-looking jug at an estate sale.

The jug, which has a face modeled into it, caused Barr enough confusion that he took it to the Antiques Roadshow for an evaluation. The expert made his appraisal. He admitted that "it's difficult to identify precisely when this was made," but ultimately he decided

1. the jug was probably made on the East Coast in the late 19th or early 20th centuries;

2. the jug is probably worth somewhere around $30,000 to $50,000.

The show was aired and caught the attention of a friend of a lady named Betsy Soule who lives in Eugene, Oregon. Somewhere around 1973 or 1974, when Soule was in high school, she made the jug in art class. Although she doesn't know how the jug managed to get to a garage sale, she was able to prove to Antiques Roadshow that the jug was her creation.

Since they received Soule's proof, Antiques Roadshow has lowered the jug's estimated value from $30,000 to $3,000.

All of this goes to prove ... what?

It shows that human beings are fallible. They make mistakes.

Now I've watched the Antiques Roadshow for a great many years and I haven't seen them make many mistakes, but it does happen. They try to get it right, but it does happen.

The same holds true for all other areas of human knowledge and wisdom. Indeed, the truths of today become the misinformation of tomorrow, which is something we need to remember when the world's experts criticize the Lord and His Word.

Look at what St. Paul says about the subject:

* God's Word is the Word of truth.

* It offers us salvation through the Redeemer.

* It is sealed by the Holy Spirit.

* It guarantees us eternal life in heaven.

* This gives us grounds to give praise to the Triune God for His gift of salvation.

In short, in the Lord we have the one Expert who can be trusted all the time.

THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, there are many wise people in this world, but there are no perfect people. All of us make mistakes except for You. May our trust be as unfailing as is Your love and grace. This I ask in the Savior's Name. Amen.

In Christ I remain His servant and yours,

Today's Bible Readings: Psalms 17, 19    John 9:24-41

To Download Devotion MP3 to your computer, right click here and select "Save Link As" or "Save Target As" or "Download Linked File As"