2-6-12<\/p>\n
I recently posted a picture on Facebook of a tattered Bible, opened to no place in particular, but the two pages looking like a Technicolor spectacular, with notes, revelations, and reminders in its margins. Bookmarks and Post-It notes splayed forth from many spots. Many people mark verses and passages that speak \u2013 or shout \u2013 to them in their Bibles. <\/p>\n
Accompanying this picture I found was the quotation by Charles Spurgeon, \u201cPeople whose Bibles are falling apart usually lead lives that aren\u2019t.\u201d It reminded me of the country song whose title warned listeners against \u201cdust on the Bible.\u201d<\/p>\n
There are some devout people who think that any notes or marks we make in the Holy Bible is a form of desecration, but I am of the school that thinks that scripture, the Holy Word, is also God\u2019s User Manual for Life. I suspect it pleases Him when we are touched by a truth\u2026 want to revisit things easily\u2026 find ways we can organize the wisdom, commands, and promises\u2026 and know it all better.<\/p>\n
In a way, margin-notes and color highlighters are not all that different from the old-fashioned versions of the Bible, those \u201cRed Letter\u201d editions. On the spines or title pages, sometimes, we read, \u201cJesus\u2019 Words in Red.\u201d Just so. Easy to find; quicker to, perhaps, memorize.<\/p>\n
Certainly there is utility in highlighting Christ\u2019s words. But even when a kid I used to wonder whether that would suggest to some people that the rest of the Bible was NOT the inspired Word of God, or not AS inspired. If God caused scripture to be written; if the Holy Spirit inspired every word, should not ALL the Bible be printed in red letters? \u201cAll scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the servant of God may be perfect, thoroughly provided for all good works\u201d (II Timothy 3:16-17).<\/p>\n
Again, just so. Jesus is Savior, but we must resist the temptation, when highlighting only His words, to think that the rest of the Bible might (as many in the world think) \u201cmerely\u201d be the thoughts of good men, or well-meaning legends, or less than Holy.<\/p>\n
I have been blessed enough to visit some of the world\u2019s great cathedrals, and it was brought to my mind, despite the memorable majesty, that God does not dwell only in grand churches. In fact, we go to church to worship God, not really to meet Him. I have also been profoundly moved in some of the world\u2019s humblest chapels; and, so, I am sure, you have been too. Plus, we are reminded that our very bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n
Therefore, like Bibles we mark and underline, our worship-temples are not remote: they come with us, they are part of us. A fancy Bible can prompt reverence, just as a mighty cathedral can remind us of God\u2019s grandeur. But if it stops there, we sadly are left with counterfeit experiences. The Bible is, instead, a lamp unto our feet. And when we enter the Temple of Life, so to speak \u2013 not some New Age clich\u00e9, but in the reality of God\u2019s habitation of every aspect of our lives \u2013 then we can experience many \u201cred-letter days\u201d God intends for us. <\/p>\n
+ + +<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Temple of Life\u201d is a place we all may enter! Like Red-Letter Bibles, we run the fear of proscribing, or categorizing, the God-portions of our lives. If we \u201ccarve out\u201d times for God, better it would be that we spend every hour of every day with Him, and let that one hour on Sunday morning go astray! A musical celebration of that point of view is this \u201cChristian blues\u201d song (in chord structure, not a blue or sad theme!) \u2013 in fact an upbeat, reverent, \u201cThank you Jesus\u201d song, in the words of its closing words. That the singer is Avril Levigne might surprise some people, but she grew up Christian and her early performances and recordings were Jesus songs, like \u201cTemple of Life.\u201d<\/p>\n