“All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”
2 Tim 3:16-17
Unexpected Prayer Meeting
The other morning, I providentially ended up in a prayer meeting for local pastors. Initially, I thought I was going to brunch to hear a presentation about a para-church organization’s work in our community. The email invitation said, “Prayer starts at 9 am followed by a FREE Brunch (and then the presentation).” In my mind, the prayer equaled the blessing before eating, and the free brunch equaled free food. Well, it turned out that prayer meant an actual 45 minutes prayer meeting. What do you know (ignorant Dane)?
Pastor’s Remark
Before we began the prayer meeting, the pastor of the church came into the room. He was pretty hip, pretty cool. He brought a Bible and a set of car keys. He asked, “Who do these belong to?” A man sitting nearby said, “Oh, it’s mine.” Jokingly with a smirk on his face, the pastor said, “OK. I’m going to keep the keys, and you can have the Bible.” Everyone was laughing.
I’m sure that no one thought much of the comment—except me. His joke stood out to me. Not because it was funny (obviously), but it has been said there is always a bit of truth in all jokes. If you think about it—What he was really saying was this, “The car is more valuable than the Bible, so I’m going to take the most valuable (your car), and you have the less valuable (the Bible).”
Problem with Pastor’s Remark
I’ve limited knowledge of the pastor. I can’t say whether his joke reflects his actual perspective on the Bible or not. But what I do know is that it sadly seems to be the general understanding for many these days. I often hear people remark, “The Bible… Mmm… What about it? It’s just the Bible.”
Nothing could be further from the truth. It is not just the Bible. It isn’t a dead book. It isn’t merely black ink on white paper. No. It is living and active (Heb. 4:12). It’s the very word of God. It’s the most valuable thing we could ever possess. It surely doesn’t seem like that when it’s collecting dust on the shelf but open its pages and you will find the glory of God on full display. In it you will find the glorious message of eternal hope to a dying world through the blood of Christ. In theology, the Bible is rightly called special revelation. It’s not only special because of its Sender, but because of the power and impact it has on its recipient through the regenerating, illuminating and sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit.
The Prince of Preachers, Charles Spurgeon, rightly understood the importance of God’s word:
“I would rather speak five words out of this book than 50,000 words of the philosophers. If we want revivals, we must revive our reverence for the Word of God. If we want conversions, we must put more of God’s Word into our sermons.”
Challenge
May we take Spurgeon’s words to heart and awaken our reverence for the Word of God. It is all we need for life and godliness. We know that “all Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work” (2 Tim 3:16-17). Nothing and I mean nothing we possess can be compared to the value of God’s living word!
If the pastor had asked you, “Do you want the keys or the Bible?” What would you have answered? What’s most valuable to you? Do your time, life, priorities, and devotion to God genuinely reflect that?”
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