The Bible remains an extremely compelling collection of books. Even though the MOST RECENT part of it was written nearly two-thousand years ago, the Bible still strikes a chord in the deepest parts of our hearts in a way that Shakespeare, Whitman, Lewis, and Homer, (despite being amazing writers in there own right), could only dream of doing. Christians believe that this phenomenon occurs because the Bible is "divinely inspired," but many Christian scholars have differing opinions on what "divinely inspired" even means. Then there are the ways many preachers and teachers have come to describe the Bible. Can I just say that I HATE when we try to label the Bible? It drives me nuts. Once again we try to take something God has given us and define it with neat corners and edges. But when we try to put those neat, clean edges on something God has done we limit it to what our perception of that object is. Let me give you a few examples that drive me the furthest up the wall:
"The Bible is Our Instruction Manual for Life": Have you ever bought something from Ikea? I have and it can be an interesting experience. Furnature from Ikea come with instructions for putting the item together. Sometimes these instructions are clear and at other times they are completely ambiguous. (Much like the Bible). But here's the problem with the idea that the Bible is our "instruction manual": Once I've put the item together, I throw the instruction manual away. I don't keep it. And even if I did, I would never look at it again unless there was something wrong. The Bible has to be better than this. It can't just be a book we refer to when life falls apart or we need advice. It has to be bigger than this. That is why it is described as "living and active," (see Hebrews 4:12). Besides, who ever reads an instruction manual?
"The Bible is God's Love Letter to Us": Love letter? Really? Is that what we really want to go with? I'm looking at an average size Bible right now. The text of this particular "love letter" is 1658 pages long... with small print. If some handed you a "love letter" that was 1658 pages long, what would you be thinking? EVEN if it was someone you cared deeply about. You'd think they were out of their gourd. besides that, the Bible has verses like Deuteronomy 6:15 that reads, "for the LORD your God, who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land." Jealous? Anger? Destroy? OK if the Bible is a love letter then God is an all-knowing, all-powerful creepy stalker. How scary is that? I'm sorry but "love letter" just doesn't make sense either.
So what makes the Bible so compelling? Why does it draw us out into such honesty? How is it that this ancient book can see right through us? I think it's because the Bible is ABOUT us. Sure they are a telling of someone else's story, but they're our stories too aren't they? We've been David, fighting against the odds to overcome some giant in our lives. We've been Peter struggling with a guilty conscious after we've turned our back on a close friend. We've been Mary, agonizing over the loss of someone important to us. We've been Paul wrestling with ourselves when we "do the things I don't want to do." The Bible is MY story too. I find myself in it. As if God is working in my life by showing me how He worked in the lives of others. Putting me in their place within those lines on those pages of ancient wisdom. Why is the Bible so compelling? Because it's a book about me. And it's a book about you. What part of your story is it telling today?
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