Grace and peace to you from a fellow truth-seeker,
it is about fellowship—fellowship with God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, and fellowship of believers one with another. One vital component of fellowship among God’s people is to converse and meditate upon Scripture and to share and ask each other about it in order to venture deeper into its meaning, relevance, and power to transform our lives.
For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
I pray this blog is a means by which to accomplish that goal and to impart some knowledge of the Scriptures that have been the foundation for my faith. I wish for others to grow and understand greater the richness of God’s revelation in the Bible and to make it the focal point upon which their life revolves. The Bible is God’s Word and it contains the self-disclosed knowledge of our God and the Savior whom he sent to save us from our sin—Christ Jesus our Lord. If someone wishes to draw from its endless spring of knowledge, let him do so with humility and reverence for as Augustine said, “All that Scripture says, God says.” The Scriptures contain the unique, divinely-revealed mind of God and have been entrusted to us, his people. Let us not neglect to come to them and drink all we can. Not as a pleasing refreshment that is honorable and obligatory in God’s eyes, but as the only thing that can quench our parched souls and satisfy the unfathomable hunger that only it can assuage.
Martin Luther said that “The Bible is alive—it has hands and grabs hold of me, it has feet and runs after me.” Like him, I too have been captivated by Scripture and see in it all the treasures of heaven and earth bestowed. There is nothing of greater value, more importance, or worthy of my attention than Scripture. Scripture offers the diligent seeker a feast incomparable to any other. Even the smallest taste has invigorated my soul and I am held prisoner to its beneficence. Nothing is sweeter and more satisfying…Nothing is more alluring and able to draw my eyes away from its pages…They are my very life-blood and my heart is on fire.
In his description of the Bible, Abraham Lincoln said, “In regard to this Great Book, I have but to say, it is the best gift God has given to man. All the good the Savior gave to the world was communicated through this book. But for it we could not know right from wrong. All things most desirable for man’s welfare, here and hereafter, are to be found portrayed in it.” The Bible is the book (or collection of books) that contains truth found nowhere else. It is the only source that gives us an understanding of our Creator and his eternal plan for our redemption. Lincoln could not have put it better, the Bible is “the best gift God has given to man” for in it we have come to experience forgiveness and salvation. If we were destitute of it, we are nothing. Its very words hold the power to convert the soul, save the sinner, and cleanse the unrighteous, if they are but heard, believed, and obeyed.
I pray this blog stirs in each of you a passion to know God like you have never known before, to chase after God and find yourself lost is his unending goodness, his unearned favor, his undeserving love, and his unquestionable faithfulness. Be relentless in your pursuit of God for he relentlessly pursues you! ~JW
~Soli Deo Gloria
FINALLY. I’ve bookmarked your blog and can’t wait to enjoy some online discussion about and mutual glorification for our heavenly Father. Great words.