Thursday, July 06, 2006

Love letters and photo albums

The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned (1 Corinthians 2:14).

A young woman purchased a new book, but after reading a few pages she laid it aside as not being particularly interesting. But some time later she became acquainted with the book’s author. A tender friendship sprang up, which eventually ripened into love and marriage. After that, the book no longer seemed dull. Every sentence warmed her heart. Love had become the book’s interpreter.

Many people find the Bible to be uninteresting or even offensive to their sensibilities. Why is that? It is because they do not know the book’s Author. But how things change when the Spirit of God enlightens the human heart with the love of heaven! When the Holy Spirit leads a person to know and love the God who reveals Himself to us in the Bible, the books of the Old and New Testament become much more interesting.

When we treasure our relationship with the Lord, we want to find out more about Him, just as a new groom is fascinated by photo albums of his bride’s life before they met. The Bible is the photo album of God’s life before we knew Him, a history of loving involvement in the lives of our ancestors. It reveals all the qualities that we love in Him—His ability to take care of us, His commitment to His promises, His fairness and His willingness to forgive even the most horrendous of mistakes. This history leads us to love Him even more. When we love the Author, we view time with His Bible as a way to come to know Him better and deepen our relationship of love with Him.

When we treasure our relationship with Christ we want to find out what pleases Him, just as a new bride spends time getting to know her husband’s likes and dislikes so that she can make him as happy as he has made her. The Bible is all of God’s love letters to us collected together in a handy bundle, letters which tell us about His love for us as well as those things we do that hurt Him, anger Him, and make Him sad. When we love the Author, we view time with His book as an opportunity to learn how to better please Him who has given us so much joy.

The Bible is God’s photo album and His collection of love letters to us. Is it any wonder that so many people keep His book on their nightstand?

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