Read: 2 Timothy 3:10-17
From childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings. (v. 15)
When I was young, we had a brightly illustrated book of Bible stories sandwiched on a shelf between Mother Goose and Dr. Seuss. My mother had taken Paul’s words about children knowing the sacred writings to heart. She was intent on her three sons knowing the Bible. So we read of Noah’s ark, Joseph’s coat, and David using a slingshot to kill Goliath.
Although I couldn’t articulate it then, I knew these Bible stories were unlike my other nursery stories. Now I can say why: the Bible stories didn’t resolve into tidy moral lessons. They weren’t like other stories, where once you “got” the point, you moved on. The Bible is different. We are never “done” with it. Abraham Joshua Heschel captures this powerfully: “We all draw upon it, and it remains pure, inexhaustible and complete . . . It is a book that cannot die . . . More than two thousand years of reading and research have not succeeded in exploring its full meaning” (God in Search of Man, p. 242).
I love the Bible stories I learned as a child now more than ever and remain fascinated by them. Over the next two weeks we’re going to explore some of those inexhaustible stories, stories that are timeless in value and don’t easily lend themselves to quick moral lessons. They connect with us on very deep levels. Keep your eyes and ears open for what God is saying through them. —Jeff Munroe
As you pray, thank God for the marvelous gift of the Bible.
About the Author
Jeff Munroe is the editor of the Reformed Journal and, in addition to being the author of the best-selling book Reading Buechner: Exploring the Work of a Master Memoirist, Novelist, Theologian, and Preacher, is also a poet, blogger, and essayist. His work has appeared in Christianity Today, The Christian Century, US Catholic, and The Reformed Journal.
