Pick up and Read!

By Ephesus

As it has been said, one of the most profound theological statements is found in the hymn “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” We Christians generally seem to be ecstatic about the first half of the phrase, but how often do we get excited about the second part: the Bible is the written revelation of God.

Being a teacher and leader in a Chinese evangelical church, I often found that those I teach no longer regard God’s Word as authoritative and transformative. When I ask my Sunday school kids to flip to Obadiah, I am pleasantly surprised that they can do this task within seconds. I wonder, however, what these teens actually understand about the book of Obadiah. To me, it seems as if believers are being equipped and trained into spiritual machines rather than authentic followers of Christ rooted in His Word. We seem to be spending so much time and effort into making sure that they know definitions and the Greek meaning of words, but we are not working hard enough to cultivate Christians who love the Bible. The value of Scripture lies in the life-changing and transforming power of God’s Word. Although academic scholarship is enormously valuable in order for us to ascertain the correct meaning of God’s Word, I find that we tend to lean towards this “easy” way of learning rather than spending time to ruminate reflectively and obey God’s Word. Knowing the Scripture well is important while living out the Word is crucial; both are equally imperative but the latter is often forgotten.

In Christ’s Great Commission, it is apparent that conversion and repentance comes before teaching and equipping. Our current generation is in danger of having church members who think they are Christians simply by attending Bible studies, conferences, and seminars. Equipping members is imperative but it is even more crucial to have true Christians that have experienced the resurrecting power of salvation. The Gospel is about us as fallen creatures in desperate need of God’s marvelous grace through Christ’s death on the cross. Let us not fall into a contemporary form of idolatry or legalism in merely chasing after knowledge and facts.

We do not need believers who can merely quote passages and sing hymns. These are good things, but, apart from God’s Word being integrated into our lives, these become only a chasing after the feeling of being “religious.” We need to disciple believers to interpret correctly the Bible, but it is even more important to move to the next step of applying the Word to their lives. Centuries ago, the call of Saint Augustine in his conversion is the same to us today: “Pick up and read!” Augustine had all the academic ability to read the Bible, but it was only when he put those living words of God into practice that he truly encountered God and subsequently became one of the greatest church fathers in the history of Christianity.

Let us then, by the help of the Holy Spirit, actively strive to be biblical, Christ-centered believers ready to give our all for the glory of God.