Peripatetics: The Art of Walking
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
God-Breathed
I'm a voracious reader. It borders on sickness.
All sorts of stuff, too. My permanent keepers on my bookshelves involve Henry David Thoreau (I always love reading "Walden"), Fyodor Doestoevsky (The Brothers Karamazov is fabulous, even though I keep a copy of the Cliffs Notes beside it when I read it), Steven King (The Stand, Uncut and Unabridged is the only way to go), John Irving (The World According To Garp is one of two extremes: One of the best books I ever read, and one of the worst movies I've ever seen even though Robin Williams was in it), Margaret Mitchell (I even had to do a report in college on how Gone With The Wind was a book written by a woman for women), Dr. Suess (how can you not love The Cat in the Hat and Green Eggs and Ham?)...I could go on and on and on. But manalive, do I love to read. Always have.
And, my life's been affected by some things I've read, too.
Francis Schaeffer's works (ummm, is it sick to say you've read all 23 of his books?) taught me that just because you're a Christian you don't have to check your brain at the door. His writings affected me profoundly, even to this day. Sometimes, to prove a point, I mention that he discipled me. Many of my thoughts about life in this universe have found root in the things he wrote...not bad for a 21st century guy.
C.S. Lewis provoked my thinking even in the midst of what appeared to be a children's story. Reading the Chronicles of Narnia again over the summer with my daughter (I can't wait to see the movie this Christmas) only reinforced what a brilliant artist he was. When he talked about God always being good but not always being safe...man. That rings so true. And don't even get me started on the genius of Scrubb having to peel away his dragon skin and the pain it caused.
Dr. Suess told me at an early age it was okay to be an individual and that others would struggle with you being you. "That Sam I Am, that Sam I Am, I do not like that Sam I Am."
Again, I could go on and on. But manalive, do I love to read. Always have.
But nothing I've ever read makes this claim: To be the very words of God.
In 2 Timothy 3: 16 (from The Message): "Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful in one way or another--"
That's a seriously bold claim. I mean, Shakespeare is good. There were times reading A.W. Tozer that I thought I would come out of my skin with how amazingly insightful he was. To write one sentence as good as Dickens' opening paragraph in Tale of Two Cities, well, I might trade everything I own to do that.
But none of them claim to be the very breath of God. Nor would they.
And one highly ignored story in the Old Testament always highlights that reality for me.
In Nehemiah, when he rebuilt the wall, they were going to have a nationwide celebration of God's faithfulness and provision, and during the rebuilding process, they found some scrolls of what we now call the Old Testament...in fact, they were going to have a public reading as part of the celebration.
As the scrolls were being opened in front of the assembly, the entire nation stood in what I can only think is reverence. They understood that what they were about to hear were the very words of God. His very breath to them. And it forced them to their feet. The God of the universe was going to talk to them today.
With all the rows of Bibles in our Christian bookstores and many different versions kicking around at our homes sitting on bookshelves and the nature of publishing and all that...I wonder if we haven't lost sight of the reality that the Bible's claim is that those are the very words of God, talking to us. We've allowed it to become just another book on the shelves, maybe it's got some wisdom above and beyond the other stuff, and maybe we'll get around to reading it if we get all our other stuff done right before bedtime.
People died so we could have our own copy of it in our hands.
People don't die for stuff they really don't believe in.
They tend to die if they really believe those words are God's breath.
And, for today, I'd like to ask if you think we've lost that reverence for the Word. If so, what can be done to get it back? If not, how do you explain the general lack of "fruit" in people's lives?
Brent 4:37 AM
Comments:
I think that we do not have near the respect for the Bible that we should have. If we truly consider it the Word of God speaking to us I think it should become more than a bunch of insight and stories. It would be God speaking to us, and when i think about that i think that is pretty flippin sweet!!-Millard
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