Christian faith builds upon the Word of God (Rom 10:17), it is not words from some wise men long passed away, but revelation from the one true living God (2 Tim 3:16). Need proof? You are the best possible proof to yourself: simply by reading, applying and persevering in it, you can turn yourself into a living testimony of the Old and New Testament, and ultimately, of Christ living in you (Col 1:27).
For people who do not bother themselves with trying out God’s Word, and for those half-hearted sampler or hit-and-run fast food eaters, the Bible study is far from productive (Luke 8:5-8). If ever they do, they see holes, not silver and gold (Prov 2:4, 5). People usually turn up various lists of the “holes” they found in the Bible. If you disguise a work from a master, say Shakespeare, and give it to school children and ask for list of “holes”, from the “hole” list you can pretty much tell which grade the “inspector” is currently in, as a third grader probably will give you a long list of wrong spellings he picked out.
There are always places in the Bible that do not seem to make sense. To people who pride themselves as judges, these places consist a list of “holes” in the Bible, but to others who humbly approach as students, a list of “ores” -- from which rich rewards await diligent miners.
After my conversion, I wasted no time in mining my own list. I remember one item that bothered me is the way the Bible was written. I used to fancy an Almighty God should write His Word the almighty way, such as written on gold leaves and suddenly dropped down from sky. Instead, it took God more than a thousand years to finish it by two scores of human authors.
I ask myself, which is harder for God to do: write a Bible Himself and drop it down from sky for direct world-wide distribution by angels; or train up people from different ages, places, backgrounds, languages, and fill them with His Spirit, so each write down his own section, and in the end, patch together as one book that open to copying and counterfeiting. If God asks my opinion, I think the former way would be much safer, and almost no place to go wrong. Yet it takes God to do it the other way, showing that not only He is the Lord over time and space, but that He delights to enter into human hearts and against all odds still accomplish His will on Earth, and perfectly in the end!
This Saturday night, let us get together to study the Word, and don’t forget to bring your own list of ‘ores’, and may the Spirit take control of us so we can write our own chapters in the ultimate book of life (Rev 20:27).
Romans 10:17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
Colossian 1:27 To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Luke 8:5-8 A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it. And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold. As he said these things, he called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
Proverb 2:4, 5 if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.
Revelation 20:27 But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life. |
发表于 2010-11-12 06:43
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