Transformed: The Truth about the Bible

With a couple swipes of the finger, we have access to the living, breathing Word of God. Countless Bible apps are available for our phones and multiple Bibles are scattered across our homes. Verses are emailed, texted, posted, and tweeted. In our Western culture, the Bible is more accessible than ever before. The widespread access we have to the Bible is a true blessing that has been bought with blood, courage, and desperate prayer. However, with the achievement of this blessing we’ve lost sight of the holiness of the Word of God. The sacred has become perceived as ordinary. 

Though the Bible has become widely accessible, it has also become widely misunderstood. I believe we need a return to the basics. My generation has found themselves drowning in a wave of theories, ideas, lies, doubts, questions, and misconceptions concerning the Word.  With the wealth of information available, young Christians are more confused than ever before. We’ve been thrown information from every side of the spectrum, wrestled with the lack of unity among the church, and left with questions and doubt. We must begin to unravel the glory of the Bible, separating the lies from truth.We must recognize what the Bible is in order to recognize its power.

The Bible is divinely inspired, living and breathing, completely true, and holy. It is God’s love letter to the world, inviting us into His redemption story made possible by the blood of Christ. The Bible introduces us to its author and calls us into a relationship with Him, to know Him and love Him. The Bible is not a boring, anger-filled list of instructions we must follow to make God happy. Rather, it is a book God breathed with love and grace, desperately calling us to His arms. Yes, it instructs us how to live, but it is so much more than an instruction manual. It is not a burden, but a glimpse into the father’s eyes, something we crave as we grow in our love toward him. It sustains us, it guides us, and it shows us who God is and who we are in Him. If we love someone, we want to know them. If they wrote us a letter, we would want to read it, not out of guilt or obligation, but out of love. The Maker of the Universe, the One who has created us has given us His Word. Shouldn’t our love for God create a deep desire within us to read His Word?  When we truly believe in the holiness of the Bible it changes our approach and compels us to open the Word with passion.

The Bible is a glorious narrative of God’s faithfulness. It begins with the account of creation and the good and perfect world God created- a beautiful picture of complete Shalom, perfect peace. It leads us to the heartbreaking story of the Fall as sin and pain rush in. It makes our heart leap with joy as we reach the climax of redemption and hope found in Christ. We are left with God’s promises of restoration. Many Christians have formed a scattered view of the Bible, collecting glimpses of the Bible from Sunday school stories. However, something beautiful happens when we grasp the Bible as a whole. We see the Old Testament fulfilled in the New, we see God’s faithful pursuit of His people, and His promise of hope for tomorrow. The best part is that our story is God’s story. The Bible reveals to us our part in this everlasting narrative of God’s grace. 

The Bible is a scary book. It makes us uncomfortable. It tells us how to live, it tells us truth. The Bible is controversial. It tells us there is a right and a wrong, a view that is not popular in our culture. But the Bible is not a hate-filled book written by an angry God with the goal of condemning everyone to hell. Instead, the Bible shows us grace. It shows us our brokenness and sin, but it also shows us God’s redemption. It is entirely for our good. Yes, it can be painful. It prunes our heart. But when we give it access to our souls and allow it to transform our lives, God takes our pain and creates a flourishing life filled with His promises. Our lives will never be perfect, but God will be faithful. Ultimately the Bible calls us to love.

It breaks my heart to see a generation lacking passion for God’s word. A study concerning youth and religion found that 40-48% of US adolescents claimed to never read the Bible; only 6-7% claimed to read their Bible once a day.  The Bible may be at our fingertips, but it doesn’t matter if it’s not being read.

What would it look like if we as Christians opened our Bibles? Not just opened them, but studied them, craved them, taught them, and most importantly grew closer to its author. Let’s open our Bibles, let truth transform us, and become known as the generation who has a passion for God. Let’s not take our access to the Bible for granted, instead let’s realize what an amazing gift it is to hold the Word of God in our hands. Let’s open our eyes to the beauty and holiness of the Bible. Let’s allow our love for God to compel us into his truth. Church, let’s rise up! Let’s not be afraid of truth. Let’s recognize the Bible’s transforming power. Let’s read and listen to what God says and let’s enter into our world. Let’s become a church transformed by the Bible and create a world transformed by God’s love. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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