Recently,
Beverly and I went to Chattanooga to a very large used book store. I was mainly
interested in going through the Christianity section. Of the various times I
have walked in there, I had never noticed a yellow sticker on a book before in
the Bible sub-section that said, “Used Saves,” and that is true; buying used
does save; one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, right? Naturally, the
first thing that came to my mind on seeing that sticker was “Jesus saves!” Go
figure.
I even read a “plain” physical Bible that has no cross-references, no markings, or commentary, etc.; I want a fresh approach to Scripture without “road signs” pointing to this or that when I open up my Bible, but that’s my personal preference. You hear preachers say, “Underline or mark your Bible” here or there; I pay them no mind in that regard, but I will take notes and make entries in my Bible software later if it is noteworthy to do so. I also read a great deal of the Bible on a Bible app on my smartphone.
My personal library is ever-shrinking while my digital library is ever-expanding (a
huge space saver, yes!). I never thought that I could ever give up books, per
se, for digital, but I did; well, I didn’t completely. One of the things I do enjoy in going to used book
stores is finding “discarded gems” pertaining to the Scriptures that have not
been digitized already or probably never will.
I
came across this conference preacher a few years back who spoke about reading
less of what man had to say about the Bible and more time spent in God’s Word
and hearing what He had to say about this or that. I didn’t conclude from this
that the speaker threw the baby out with the bathwater; only that he purposely
gives more attention to the Scriptures rather than getting caught up in the
sages of times past and present now. God did give the gift of teaching to
others to help with the understanding of Scripture, but more importantly,
Yahweh provided the Holy Spirit to enlighten us in the truth, and He does that
directly by Himself and indirectly through others.
Surprisingly,
and yet, not so surprisingly, we would have thought that would have been a
given of spending more time in Scripture, but we are all guilty of giving more
time to other sources like magazines, books, digital this or that, radio,
television, or whatever medium you can think of rather than allowing God to speak
to us through the Scriptures!
I
think all too often we resort to convenience of another respected opinion rather
than searching the Scriptures for ourselves because of time! Here is the caveat
on that strategy; you and I are responsible to God for what we believe! We can’t
blame wrong thinking on others as Adam and Eve illustrated in the Garden (Gn 3:11-13).
Here
is a paradox for us; we are to pray without ceasing (1 Thes 5:17), but it is wise for us to allow God
to speak more to us through His Word than us speaking to Him! You may disagree.
What Paul was conveying to the believers at Thessalonica was that our prayer life
should be active not merely reactive.
Herein
is wisdom, yes, giving Jesus the preeminence or putting Him first in all things,
even in our reading, seeing, or listening (Col 1:18). And here I was, trolling
through the used books on the writings of certain men! It is okay to do this;
there is nothing innately evil in doing so provided we know and practice
putting Jesus first as the Source of our spiritual truth. Goodness, we are all
so prone to putting Jesus in the backseat or second in everything, yes? We should say no to the flesh and yes to faith!
Thank
God for enlightened men and women who have taken me through vast spiritual
terrains of truth. God uses others to enlighten us but never exclusively. Our
authority comes from the Word, not by some lengthy bibliography, and I am not
suggesting here that there is no need for a bibliography listing in the world of
academia or apologetics. My opinion on spiritual matters, if not backed by the
Word, is of little to no value.
But let me say one other thing in this regard. No one can claim to be illuminated by the Holy Spirit if what they are espousing or teaching runs contrary to the truths of Scripture, particularly when failing to take a grammatical/historical approach to the Bible. Many false teachers are intoxicated with spiritualizing the texts and violating the biblical context of the verse/s they are abusing.
They purposely mislead others into believing their false narrative has the support of Scripture. If the blind leads the blind, they both will land in the ditch, yes (cf. Lk 6:39)? These false teachers do not have the Holy Spirit living within their hearts (cf. 1 Cor 2:14). They are blind (cf. 2 Cor 4:4). Vetting
the truth via the Scriptures was precisely what the Bereans had done in verifying
what Paul was espousing (Acts 17:10-12); it’s a good practice for us to employ as well! Yes? Ditch those guys and gals who violate the truth of Scripture!
Back
at the used book store, when I was in the used Bible section (or Bibles abused
by neglect or purposely abandoned) and checking out the prices, you would think
I would be elated over the inexpensiveness, but I was troubled in my spirit to
some degree. I realize that I do not know why this or that person sold these
Bibles to this used book store, except to get something rather than nothing on
something that was obviously of no value to the seller which may explain why these Bibles were
not given to a church library or given away freely.
Ironically, the
majority of Americans “love” their Bibles, but the moral decline and the
growing abandonment of spiritual truth in our country tells a different story. The
Bible is rarely read by most who love it, much less applied! You
have heard the definition of a classic, yes? Everybody has heard about it, but
few have read it; such is a classic! Disobedience to God is a love/sin problem
(cf. Mk 12:30; Jn 14:15). We can’t apply what we willfully choose on what
not to know, yes?
As
I was surveying the various Bibles and translations, a young man, who looked to
be in his early twenties, walked up beside me, perusing the Bibles to the left
of me. I felt led to address him on what I was thinking, “I find it
extraordinary how cheap these Bibles are selling for!” I pointed out to him an
example by saying, “Here, in this place, these good deals on Bible sales truly
illustrates the value we place upon the Word of God in our culture where we see
that the writings of a man here, in many instances, are of more value monetarily
to this used bookstore than the infinite worth of Scripture itself! Wouldn’t it
be a marvelous thing if the Word of God was given freely to all who wanted one!?
He shook his head in affirmation and said, “I understand completely what you are saying to me!” Then I pointed out to him the yellow label that caught my attention earlier. “Used Saves?” I asked. “Jesus saves!” I exclaimed. He smiled and let out a passionate “Amen!” I could tell by his facial expressions that he was saddened by my observations, but a smile came across his face over the fact that Jesus was the answer to our plight! Then he left the scene as quickly as he appeared, looking to rejoin his group.
I
left that day with a commentary on the book of Matthew and a reference book by
an evangelical heavyweight. Beverly bought a devotional to give to someone as a
birthday gift. God willing, I will return to find buried treasure.
Folks,
no matter how good a human writer may be; when any writing of others surpasses
our personal time in the Scriptures, we are being unwise for the simple reason that
the human author is not perfect, all-knowing, or all-wise. The Word of God, on
the other hand, is flawless because the Author is eternally holy, all-knowing, and all-wise, and so forth.
We
need to be diligent in putting more time into reading and following the standard for the vetting of
all things – the Scriptures. Used saves you money; there is no doubt if you don’t
mind secondhand stuff. I got a deal that day for sure. I valued the work of these gifted authors. I looked at the used bookstore and thought to myself,
Putting God first in our lives will prove to be of inestimable value to us and to others that cross our path in one way or another! There can be no doubt that the Word of God and being used by God are powerful and priceless tools and treasures that bless and spare us from unnecessary heartaches and burdens while here on terra firma!
A Wordless life produces the opposite effect. I dare you to vet
me on this one; it doesn’t mean our lives will be trouble-free, but it pays heavenly dividends to
be Word-driven (cf. Josh 1:8, 9; Psa 1:1-2, 3)! <><
I have not departed from the commandment of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food (Job 23:12).
