The Book of Books

What's your view of the Bible?

A dusty old relic of a bygone age ?

An irrelevant mish mash of ancient myths?

I heard one "preacher" describe it as a bag of seed .Is that what it is ?

The bible describes it self as the Divinely inspired word of God . It is called a fire , a sword , a light , the truth that when heard and believed births eternal life. It claims it is eternal, unchanging supernatural. It tells us all we need to know regarding the Living God , His ways and His will. It also tells us about humanity and their ways and will. It instructs us for this life and prepares us for the next. And millions of believers down through the centuries can validate it's power in their lives.

This Book of Books is not our object of worship but it does define who the object of our worship is. Men have dedicated their lives and men have given their lives that we might be able to hold in our hand the very words of God.

God himself has intervened through the millenia to preserve this faithful witness of His person , His power and His priorities. Evil men and wicked spirits have and continue to attack , dilute and pollute Holy Scripture... and God has pronounced the most fearful curses on those who would presume to do so .

Of course the power and promises of Holy Writ can only be appropriated when it is read.It can do nothing for the man who keeps it in his bookshelf It may look impressive on the coffee table but it's only in opening it , reading it and reading it well is the power of it released.

Some thoughts on reading this amazing book :

The old saints used to speak of reading the Bible on their knees ; not necessarily literally , but with an attitude of devotion. The scriptures contain all kinds of interesting facts but our purpose is to discover God and not to win a bible trivia competition. The book is factual ,scientifically , historically, psychologically ,economically but the focus of our quest is theological : the most exciting and important study that men can devote themselves to ...the study of God.

There are those who read scripture as though it's a collection of unconnected texts...but of course it's not . Some individual scriptures may well capture the intent of a passage but that's not always the case , and I have heard many a message based on a proof-text that actually went against what scripture says.(I remember hearing a clever and charismatic preacher expound on Rom 14:17 ...for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking to demonstrate that we need be care full what we eat and drink ! The context of that verse of course says the exact opposite) The bible needs to be read and it needs to be read rightly.

Finally ,(for the purpose of this blog) it needs to be incorporated into our lives. The commands obeyed, the promises apprehended and the priorities of God to direct our own priorities.The successful Christian will have a biblical world view. The pressure to conform to the godless thinking of this world can only be resisted as we allow the Holy Spirit to internalize His word in us that we may live effective and fruitfull lives as we hold out the word of life to a lost and darkened generation.