I agree in part with Trevor Morrow's article about the lack of knowledge of the Bible. On the other hand the danger is that we treat knowledge as the equivalent for transformation. As evangelicals we are known as the people of the book, and though we must pursuit to know it, we must always remember that what we pursue is not knowledge but an encounter with God through its pages. We are not the only ones with a "holy Book", other religions have them, but they have them more as a code to follow, or a book that must be read. We are the people of the Saviour Jesus Christ, and that is the message of the Bible, the unfolding story of a God who pursued humankind to the point of giving His own Son. We need to find the balance. As Scot McKnight says in his latest book: "The Blue Parakeet": "God gave the Bible no so we can know it but so we can know and love God through it". Am I saying that it is not good to know the Bible, no, what I am saying is that knowledge on its own won't produce changed lives nor will attract others. Yes, let's read the Bible, let's take time to meditate even in one verse, but if that verse takes hold of our hearts and change us, it will be of greater impact on our lives. As M.Basil Pennington said in his book "Lectio Divina": "I am a person who meets the Lord each day as a friend and disciple, sitting at his feet to receive a word of life." Let's sit at the feet of Jesus, not because we want to know about Him but because we want to know Him.
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I agree in part with Trevor Morrow's article about the lack of knowledge of the Bible. On the other hand the danger is that we treat knowledge as the equivalent for transformation. As evangelicals we are known as the people of the book, and though we must pursuit to know it, we must always remember that what we pursue is not knowledge but an encounter with God through its pages. We are not the only ones with a "holy Book", other religions have them, but they have them more as a code to follow, or a book that must be read. We are the people of the Saviour Jesus Christ, and that is the message of the Bible, the unfolding story of a God who pursued humankind to the point of giving His own Son. We need to find the balance. As Scot McKnight says in his latest book: "The Blue Parakeet": "God gave the Bible no so we can know it but so we can know and love God through it".
Am I saying that it is not good to know the Bible, no, what I am saying is that knowledge on its own won't produce changed lives nor will attract others. Yes, let's read the Bible, let's take time to meditate even in one verse, but if that verse takes hold of our hearts and change us, it will be of greater impact on our lives. As M.Basil Pennington said in his book "Lectio Divina": "I am a person who meets the Lord each day as a friend and disciple, sitting at his feet to receive a word of life."
Let's sit at the feet of Jesus, not because we want to know about Him but because we want to know Him.
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