My personal faith mantra is "God is good. God is faithful." I'm convinced this is the key to my sanity. One of the truths that I hang my hat on is the fact that the Bible is the word of God. Generally, most Christians I know have what I believe to be a somewhat skewed understanding of Biblical truth, usually that is a historically accurate rule book for life. If you're looking for a history book, there are probably a lot of better sources than the Bible. And if a rulebook is what you're looking for, then that could be confusing because sometimes the "rules" contradict each other.
But what I do believe the Bible is is a revelation of the character of God and timeless truth. I read a book a few months ago called Velvet Elvis (an attempt to be the new Blue Like Jazz, but an overall good book), and the author made a point that I took to heart. The Bible is our story, not just the story of a bunch of people thousands of years ago in the middle east. We were the ones who fell in the garden of Eden, we were led out of Egypt, we wandered 40 years in the desert until God handed over the promised land to us, etc etc. It was like being given fresh eyes when I started thinking of the Bible like that. The Bible stops being a historical account of how God once worked and starts being a timeless account of humanness and God's unrelenting faithfulness.
Mike Cope wrote a blog series on the Bible a few weeks ago, and one of the most beautiful points I thought he made was that he feels like "the Bible knows me." I dare suggest that everyone who encounters the Bible in a healthy environment has felt it speak a deep truth they recognize (I say healthy environment because sometimes people have taken that "sword of the spirit" thing the wrong way and chopped off some peoples' heads). I've seen the Word speak to people many times through LST.
I would add to Cope's statement that not only does the Bible know me, but it likes me. As cliche as it is, the Bible is one big love story. I think sometimes we breeze over this statement because it's not a love story we are taught to long for. In the words of Chris Rice, "sometimes love has to drive a nail into it's own hand." It's a true love-- sacrificial and committed and forever.
Not sure what brought this blog on... maybe I'm just falling in love all over again with my true love.
1 comment:
Excellent post, Ann. These are things I've thought about a lot lately, but often have a hard time expressing.=)
And btw--I heard "Sometimes love has to drive a nail into its own hands" this morning for the first time in forever. Great song!!
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