If people know me or hang around me much, they’ll know how passionate I am to mine the truth of Scriptures and to live in its instructions as the revelation of God in human history. I embrace with gratefulness the objectivity it brings to our growing relationship with him and accept it fully as the inspired words of God.
But I also know the journey goes beyond that. We were not called to relate to a book, but the author of that book. Jesus chided the Pharisees for thinking they would find life in the Scriptures, when he made clear that he alone was the source of life. And he fills the pages of the book itself.
You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life. (John 5: 39-49)
So I found a story I heard yesterday quite interesting. I am in upstate New York at the moment and had an incredible time this weekend with a wonderfully warm group of brothers and sisters in Lowville who are sorting out what it means to live in freedom and relationship with God. Many of them had been part of a more traditional congregation for many years together, some of them on its leadership team. Some of them have left it over the past year, others were still there, but they were in the same home over the weekend, loving each other and sorting out the things God was making clear to them.
As strange as this sounds, a couple from Maryland helped drive me from Lowville to Palmyra yesterday. Among the many things we talked about on that trip they told me one of those ‘hitchhiker’ stories where the man their children picked up one day by the side of the road might have been more than he appeared to be. At their parting, he left them with this bit of wisdom:
“Remember, the Bible is the introduction to a limitless God.”
And so it is!
Whether spoken by angel or John, vagabond or brother, I love that view and think it puts both God and his book in perspective. The Bible was not the last word of God spoken into our world. The Son is! Knowing him leads us ever closer to the heart of his Father!
Wayne, I love that also. Here is something I posted on my blog the other day. What the hitchhiker said reminded me of it.
I am seeing such dynamic creativity again in the God of Creation when it comes to sharing this reason for hope that I have. He has never stopped speaking. The diffence seems to me to be, I am finding ways to quiet the noise created by the surrounding world so I feel I am hearing again that creative voice inside me. He wants to touch the people in this world with His love. We are all invited to participate.
Kent
Wayne, I love that also. Here is something I posted on my blog the other day. What the hitchhiker said reminded me of it.
I am seeing such dynamic creativity again in the God of Creation when it comes to sharing this reason for hope that I have. He has never stopped speaking. The diffence seems to me to be, I am finding ways to quiet the noise created by the surrounding world so I feel I am hearing again that creative voice inside me. He wants to touch the people in this world with His love. We are all invited to participate.
Kent