How often have you started a book without reading the introduction? Or how about the time you tackled a project without bothering to check out the instruction manual? You are not alone.

Honestly, I really would rather skip the “basic first stuff.” It’s all because I want to be done before I ever get started. More times than not, I find myself back at the instructions, but only after much unnecessary confusion and frustration.

I think, “Surely I should be smart enough to figure this out!” Yet, for some strange reason, the simplest of solutions seem to elude me. That’s because instructions and introductions represent the starting place.

In order to understand the heart behind a person, place or thing, you have to go to the source of its origin. Over the years I have met people who desperately tried to make sense of their lives but who had no clue where to start.

Consequently, they often end up experimenting with a myriad of avenues only to end up at a dead-end road. Then they find they’ve settled for some intellectual, philosophical, hermeneutical hog wash.

But that’s really not necessary. There is a God and He has provided instructions with an introduction to His plan and purpose for humanity.

All you and I have to do is be willing to read and receive. In the Bible, found in the very first book, chapter, and verse, are the words, “In the beginning.” Also the same words are recorded at the beginning of the Apostle John’s account of Jesus (John 1:1-2).

What’s interesting to me is the fact that they were written by two different authors in two different time periods. Yet the essence of the message is still very much the same. In both accounts they say, “Stop and consider the origin, or the Source.” In other words, “Don’t take another step toward the future without learning how it all began.”

I don’t know about you, but that’s powerful stuff to me. Even though it takes a little extra effort, I have learned that this process will save me precious time and energy, and give me invaluable insight in the long run.

 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. John 1:1-2 NKJV In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1 NKJV

 Biblical Meditation: John 15:10 AMP If you keep My commandments [if you continue to obey My instructions], you will abide in My love and live on in it, just as I have obeyed My Father’s commandments and live on in His love.