Contrary to popular belief, Scripture is not a how to for getting into some kind of promised land in the afterlife. It's a how to for living here more abundantly.
- Preach on The Brave
The above quote shocked me when I heard it on the second to last episode of The Brave. Not because the concept shocked me, but because I don't think I have ever heard a more accurate statement about the Bible on a secular television show before. Too often we approach and present scripture as a travel guide to heaven or a handbook of requirements to qualify for God's favor, care and protection. We then study it as though it is an instruction manual on how to put together a gift with "some assembly required," which we know means it will be badly translated English we can't understand and make no sense and we'll be up all night fighting with the parts before we get it together, if we're lucky. Of course the gift is not a child's Christmas present but life, and this approach to the Bible makes reading and studying it about as much fun as reading a text book.
But the Bible isn't about what is required of us. The theme of the Bible is who already met all that is required so we don't have to, because we can't. The Bible isn't about how to make God love us and care for us. It's about a God who loved us before we even existed and cared enough about us already to make Himself known to us and to make a way for us to have life and be freed from death and bondage and misery and hopelessness and brokenness. It's a love letter from a Daddy who went way out of His way to adopt us as His own and who longs to heal and restore us and provide us with the power to live a life worth living, a life where we can give and receive love.
Understanding that truth can make reading scripture as more enjoyable than checking out your son's new girlfriend's Facebook page. We don't read it and study it to learn what we need to pass a test or or a membership to Heaven exam. We read it to learn about the Daddy who loves us as we are, not as we should be, but loves us enough not to leave us as we are and to pay the price to ransom and restore us. When we look at it like that the scriptures can come to life for us as they reveal to us the heart of Daddy. If you struggle with scripture and it feels a chore, try this approach. It might help.
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