I am currently reading through
by Wayne Grudem. It's a huge book, and I expect it to take me 1-2 years to finish it, but I love, love reading theology and learning more about the Bible, so I am very excited about it. Right now I am in the first few chapters which are talking about the Bible - who wrote it, when, why...that sort of thing. This week I was reading about the canon of the Bible specifically and how the books that are in the Bible got there - and how other pieces of writing didn't make the cut.
Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine
by Wayne Grudem. It's a huge book, and I expect it to take me 1-2 years to finish it, but I love, love reading theology and learning more about the Bible, so I am very excited about it. Right now I am in the first few chapters which are talking about the Bible - who wrote it, when, why...that sort of thing. This week I was reading about the canon of the Bible specifically and how the books that are in the Bible got there - and how other pieces of writing didn't make the cut.
This got me thinking about how carefully God crafted the Bible for us. How he inspired each person who wrote its pages. How these writings were passed down orally, eventually recorded, preserved, and finally dispersed across the world. To think that God protected His very words so they could somehow make it to me, halfway across the world, thousands of years later, translated into my language, led me to write this...
I know I often take the Bible for granted. I wake up every morning and take out my leather-bound copy of God's Word. All sixty-six books are there, telling me the story of God's love for me from start to finish. Telling of the redemption He offers me through His Son, Jesus Christ. Every passage, every verse is written in English, labeled and numbered so I can navigate the pages with ease. There are carefully researched footnotes at the bottom of every page to clarify and explain any section I don't understand.
I am blessed.
I don't have to wait in sin and darkness until an obedient and faithful missionary comes to my land with the hope of the gospel. I don't have to wrestle in prayer daily in hopes that someone, someday will translate the Bible into my language. I don't have to strive to discern God's word through dreams, visions and signs as I wait for His written word to reach my culture.
I can read my Bible every day. At home if I please. Or at a coffee shop. Or at school. I can even take my Bible to work with me. I can read it anywhere without fear that someone will take my Bible away or persecute me for my faith.
The Lord has given me a gift. The gift of His Word. Am I delighting in it? Thanking Him for it? Treasuring it? Obeying it? Sharing it?
Or am I taking for granted something that so many have striven for, suffered for, or even died for? Something that many long for but do not possess. Something that might not always be protected and accessible for me. Am I storing up God's Word in my heart so I might always possess that which is my life and never fades?
For it is no empty word for you, but your very life...
Deuteronomy 32:47
The grass withers, the flower fades,
but the word of our God will stand forever.
Isaiah 40:8
4 comments:
What a great perspective. Thank you for sharing this! It definitely got me thinking.
I love theology too! I may have to check that book out. I also have Doctrine by Mark Driscoll on my list to read as well.
New here! I love this post...a great reminder-we are so blessed to have his words to study in depth. Thanks for posting!
This was a great post. I definitely take the gift of God's word for granted. We are so blessed to have the freedom that we do... to read it at home, at Starbucks, in church, etc. May we never grow too comfortable with this beautiful gift of God! xo
So true. I remember reading a book like that for one of my college classes. I was amazed at how everything was put together. I definitely take the Word of God for granted. By His grace I wasn't born in some tribe, still waiting to be told about the Gospel. Remembering that makes me so fired up to go and tell them....I need to think this way a WHOLE LOT more often.
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