Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Message from Donn Start, Principal West Valley Campus

Some call it the "terrible twos" because of the many new challenges a toddler presents as they hit that two-year old mark and they declare their independence. A few others call it the terrific twos because of the incredible word explosion that goes on. When my own little princess, Jody, hit two she became quite a talker. At times, she demonstrated that she not only knew words, but even understood some pretty important meaning behind the words. I vividly remember her cuddling right next to her daddy as she showed me her little New Testament Bible. She knew what that book was called as she uttered "Bible." But even more important, when she offered me her Bible, she said two words that go together, "Bible...Jesus."

Those words are always supposed to go together. Ultimately our Bible reading isn't supposed to be about a book but about a person. It's about Jesus. My grandmother would tell me that when she reads the Bible it’s as if she were reading the love letters that she received years earlier from my grandfather while serving in WWI. She would read those same letters over and over again, not because there was any new information, but because it was as if she was with the person who wrote it.

That's how it's supposed to be when we pick up God's love letter to us - the Bible. We're not with a book. We're with the person who wrote it to us, and that changes everything. Sometimes we get into the rut of thinking, "It's my Bible reading time again." And frankly, we're not all that excited about it. Our less than positive attitude may tell us to read the Bible because it's our Christian duty.

When we read God's Word, it should be something like the picture God gives us in Luke 10. Martha has invited Jesus to have dinner with her and her sister, Mary. The Bible says, "Mary...sat at the Lord's feet, listening to what He said. But Martha was distracted by all the dinner preparations that had to be made." Martha criticizes Mary for not running around like she is. But Jesus says, "Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken from her." Jesus of course, wasn't condoning laziness. He was applauding the priority of loving Him over serving Him...of spending time with Him over doing things for Him. Yes, our love will result in serving and doing things for Him, but it has to be anchored in spending time with Him. Our Bible reading time needs to be the time each day that we "sit at the Lord's feet, listening to what He says."

So when you go through a day without time in God's Word, it's not the Bible we're leaving out of our day - it's Jesus. The Bible doesn't care if we show up. Jesus does. That's why we need to make time with Him our highest priority every day.

And when we pick up His Book, let’s remember - "Bible...Jesus."

2 comments:

  1. WOW- what great words!
    loving Him over serving Him...spending time with Him over doing things for Him. That's an easy one for us to mix up.
    Great reminder: "Bible-Jesus"

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  2. I love it! Thanks for a beautiful reminder of what this Christian life is really about.

    ReplyDelete

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