Friday, December 12th, 2008
The Word. Simply Truth.
I’ve always felt an appreciation towards the truth from the Bible. It’s the sense of awe and esoteric revelation that strikes me. Those simple words describe not only the foundation of our faith, but the substance of our common creed.
Not every Christian may be able recite and draw power from the living voice of God; few, if asked, could account for the main messages of the Bible. But the essential idea – the message of love, redemption, and freedom in Christ – is one that every Christian understands and identifies with. It orients us, sets our course, each and every day.
Indeed the infallible nature of the Word is so deeply ingrained in the faith itself – that we tend to take it for granted. It is easy to forget that at the time in which the scriptures were conceived, presented radical implications; undeniable attested by the demonstration of mastery over death itself by Jesus Christ, our savior. It is a truth that some portion of the world still rejects — and for which an even larger portion of humanity find scant evidence in their lives.
In fact, much of my appreciation towards the scripture doesn’t come from religiously reading the text, but more so from actively listening to what is being said.
Sometimes reading the word, for what it’s worth, is easy. We all agree, for instance, that God has probably spoken loudly before in your darkest hour of need. Likewise, we all agree that it’s difficult to have that thirst for his voice when life is good.
More often, though, learning how to listen – at all times – is the real key to drawing power from the Word of God. Although, failure to do so arise not because we have steered a wrong course, but because we live in a complex, and bipolar world. I firmly believe, that the ideology that surrounds a spectator faith, imputes unwarranted merits of self-righteousness and a false sense of spirituality. For example, listening to a sermon does not equate to reading the word of God; nor does it entitle claims to have read the passage – however, it seems to be a common practice today. But I acknowledge that people are in different parts of their journey with God, and not even the best of leaders can readily provide a solution to this growing problem, without an unprecedented upheaval of sorts.
The Word, simply, has not been regarded the same way it has been in the past. Perhaps in light of the emerging postmodernism, we no longer feel justified to decrypt complicated messages, in fear of heresy. Though, really, the unequivocal life changing power of the Bible, for the most part, is written in simple and straight-forward messages.
Love. Life. Death. Freedom.
The Bible was not written for only the upper-middle class citizens, but for everyone, even the gentiles, who knew little or nothing about the laws and statutes.
Then there’s the fact that not everything is simple. I admit, at times, the Bible does seem confusing and contradicting; which scares me. I can recall a time when I was perplexed at the message Jesus proclaimed in turning us against our parents. Yet now, it makes sense, not because someone has explained it to me – but because God revealed it to me in His perfect timing.
And sometimes our ideological predispositions are so fixed that we have problem seeing the obvious.
I have come to realize, that reading the word of God is more than just looking at the unknown – in a quest to satiate our desire for knowledge – but recognizing to what God is trying to say. To fixate on what’s important, then allowing the teachers to do the rest. (And I am in no way trying to promote ignorance)
Of course, the acknowledgement and testament to the full power of God’s Word will never be fully achieved until we experience it for ourselves.
In the past, I do admit to finding very little power in using the scripture, drawing on other people’s experience to teach and proclaim God’s kingdom. And with an exceedingly large amount of people that mindlessly reiterate scriptural lessons learned through pastors, books, online podcasts or even a Bible study groups. I’d boldly suggest and say that it’s not an uncommon feeling – apathy towards the power behind God’s Word.
Of course, we know the happy ending, God’s word is powerful, commanding, mighty, and influential – the list goes on.
However, we must recognize that there is no substitute or replacement for the Word of God. And I believe that our foundation in the word will play an immense role in shaping the future of this generation’s Christian faith, for better – or worse.
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