Also, I want to share a little bit more of why I believe the Bible.
Why do I believe the Bible?
I believe the Bible because I found Jesus there. It’s not the only place I found Him. I found Him in the church. I found Him in prayer. I see His thumbprints on everything created. But I found Him most clearly in the written record of His interaction with humanity. I see His love, His sacrifice, His compassion, His tenderness, His fearsomeness, His devotion, His awesomeness, His beauty and strength and power and majesty in the pages of scripture.
I encounter a God who should have dismissed me as readily as I had dismissed Him, but who instead chases after me in all my mess and brokenness. I find a God who offers me a seat at the banquet table in His eternal palace. I encounter a God who offers me, even me, a place to belong and to be whole and to just “be,” with all the doing and striving aside. I find true, lasting, meaningful purpose in His invitation to follow and participate with Him in His work of rescuing others and restoring His world to the way it was intended to be – bringing hope and justice and mercy and love and belonging to others. It’s where I lose myself in His grand story…and oddly, that’s exactly where I am most found.
When I align myself to what God speaks in His scriptures, I find a better way. It’s not always an easy way. It’s not always the way I want or prefer, but always the way that proves best for me and everyone else around me.
I find a sense of truth…real, tangible, unfading, unchanging, unbending truth that doesn’t disappoint. I find truth that’s more stable than the shifting sands of preference. I find freedom – a breaking of the chains that had enslaved me – the longing for money or fame or pleasure or comfort or indulgence that never really satisfied, at least not for long. It just kept me coming back for more. It was never enough. But in the scriptures, I encounter a God of freedom, a Word of Life – who offers me a way out of the empty pursuits.
The Bible is so much more than stories of people from long ago, so much more than lists of acceptable or non-acceptable behavior. The Bible is so much more than antiquated mythology (as some might claim). It’s a glimpse into God’s heart, into His interaction with humanity from the very beginning of time. It’s an invitation to find yourself in the story – not just to see a reflection of yourself in the stories within, but to find God writing His story still, in your life.
Reading the Bible is not just reading a book. It’s a chance to encounter the LIVING WORD, to hear from God Himself, to hear God’s voice, to feel the wind of His whisper as He speaks over you. It’s a chance to encounter the LOGOS of Heaven.
All for His Glory,
Fitz
