It is irony in a way....obscured....meaningless......essentially useless to some....but as clear as the heavens are deep to others......copies of those books that seems to be at one time everywhere when you don't want to be reminded of it.....and yet lost when it sits directly in front of you.....a book....but not one book....one long story....non-fiction....1189 chapters.....more valuable than all the gold in the world whether minted or molded or as yet undiscovered. God directly and perfectly inspired every word and every punctuation.....and then directed its separation into smaller books and chapters and verses. It sits somewhere near you right now.....with more latent power than an exploding star.....able to grab hold of and tear by force a soul out of the clutches of Satan....and yet capable to sit and decompose and bore. You can hate it....and abuse it....burn it.....or change its features and its name.....and then give your own book report that bears absolutely no resemblance whatsoever to what the author wrote....but then it still humbles and saves eternally the soul of the next person that picks it up to read. It can enliven and transform and bring insurmountable joy in the first month of the twelfth year or the twelfth month of the one-hundredth and first year. I wrote the following post almost nine years ago.....and I'm sure I wrote something similar somewhere else nine years before that....and again nine years before that....and yet again almost nine years before that. That's my feeble way of describing something that is as alive in one's youth as in one's sightless or deaf or bed-ridden days of old age.
Handle with care.......October of 2010
Please consider this, that when you pick up a Bible to read, you hold in your hands words that are inspired by God. They are His words...to you! Without the movement of God's Spirit on us, they will be just words, but under the power of His Spirit their meaning not only begins to become clear but they reverberate every atom of our being and every neuron involved in our thinking.
Consider these words from Hebrews 4:12 For the Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. If one wishes to remain in rebellion to God one would do well to not pick up His Word, for should God will it, it will make very clear the folly and repercussions of holding on to our own autonomy.
On the other hand, if one (in sincerity and humility) desires to see just what is in this perceived time capsule...... it will be an illumination that is easy on the eyes, a taste sweet to the pallet, a feel exhilarating to the touch, a voice soothing to the ears and a pure aroma of cleanliness. It is powerful and will remain powerful even unto old age. It is provision for all that we will need on this journey. It is nourishment. It is radiation to kill cancer cells (of the soul) and minerals to build bones. It is mental exercise, rejoicing, and fulfillment. It is knowledge and understanding, intellect and emotion, humility and edification. It is oxygen itself to the Christian life but it is kryptonite to Nietzsche's uberman. It will not only cause you to love but define love itself. Its unity will bring division. Discerning this division will bring unity to the mind. So, the next time that you pick up a Bible... please know... that if you are not careful... an ax may be laid at the root of your paradigm of life"
Handle with care.......October of 2010
Please consider this, that when you pick up a Bible to read, you hold in your hands words that are inspired by God. They are His words...to you! Without the movement of God's Spirit on us, they will be just words, but under the power of His Spirit their meaning not only begins to become clear but they reverberate every atom of our being and every neuron involved in our thinking.
Consider these words from Hebrews 4:12 For the Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. If one wishes to remain in rebellion to God one would do well to not pick up His Word, for should God will it, it will make very clear the folly and repercussions of holding on to our own autonomy.
On the other hand, if one (in sincerity and humility) desires to see just what is in this perceived time capsule...... it will be an illumination that is easy on the eyes, a taste sweet to the pallet, a feel exhilarating to the touch, a voice soothing to the ears and a pure aroma of cleanliness. It is powerful and will remain powerful even unto old age. It is provision for all that we will need on this journey. It is nourishment. It is radiation to kill cancer cells (of the soul) and minerals to build bones. It is mental exercise, rejoicing, and fulfillment. It is knowledge and understanding, intellect and emotion, humility and edification. It is oxygen itself to the Christian life but it is kryptonite to Nietzsche's uberman. It will not only cause you to love but define love itself. Its unity will bring division. Discerning this division will bring unity to the mind. So, the next time that you pick up a Bible... please know... that if you are not careful... an ax may be laid at the root of your paradigm of life"
