B-I-B-L-E

As a pastor, I get more than my share of inspirational or humorous 'religious' e-mails forwarded to me.  Most of them I appreciate.  A little extra inspiration or levity is often a welcome addition to my day.   There is one e-mail that I get quite regularly.  It is the one where a little boy tells his father that he knows what B-I-B-L-E stands for: Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth.

I have to apologize right now to everyone who has sent me that e-mail, because I do not intend to offend you and I DO appreciate the fact that you think of me and send the e-mail.  But I also have to admit that I find that one more annoying than I do cute. 

You see, that just isn't the way that I see the Bible.  The Bible is not a "how-to" manual for humans.  It is a collection of stories about God and God's relationship with us.  When taken together, the collection culminates in THE great story of God - the God who is faithful to us, has mercy on us, has compassion for us, and loves us enough to become one of us.  Having become one of us, God becomes one with us and shares our life.   What I find so amazing is that by dying and rising from the dead, Jesus alters our human reality.  Through Jesus, God set in motion the restoration of the nation of Israel and the redemption of the entire creation.  Now THAT is one heck of a story.  In fact, there is no other story like it.  It is a life-giving and life-transforming story.

Sometimes I simply read the Bible; sometimes I study it.  Other times I read it in a way that can only be described as completely devouring the words I am reading.  It is then that I am absolutely enraptured by this amazing God and the stories of faithfulness, steadfastness, mercy, grace, and love that I encounter in their midst.

When I read the Bible, what I encounter is the life-giving story of a loving God.  What I discover are not so much instructions and as ways in which my life-story, with all of it's sub-stories, intersects with that live-giving God's story.  My life is transformed in the process, not because of any basic instructions which I am following, but because it is opened up to being a part of God's story.  And God's story is all about giving and transforming lives.


May you be transformed -    
PK(+)