Dear Frank,
There is a sense
in which Philippians 4:8 reminds me of the two central trees in the Garden of
Eden.
“Finally, brethren,
whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure,
whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and
if anything worthy of praise, ponder these things.”
This certainly is
akin to partaking of the Tree of Life, which of course is Jesus Christ. Since
we all must eat, if we are not feeding from the Tree of Life we are feeding
from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil – or worse. If we are not
feeding from the Life of Christ we are feeding from death.
People can
mistake Philippians 4:8 for positive thinking, but positive thinking is just as
deadly as negative thinking, if not more so. Why? Because those entrapped in
negative thinking hopefully know they have a problem and need deliverance,
while those drinking the elixir of positive thinking believe they have found
the answer to successful living and are doing fine – when they need a Savior,
when they need to come to the end of themselves at the Cross, when they need to
die and rise again in Jesus Christ (see Romans 6). Our strengths can be more
dangerous than our weaknesses for we tend to rely on them and not draw our life
from Christ.
How do we know
what is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, and of good repute? How do we
recognize excellence and that which is praiseworthy? We can only know these
things through Jesus Christ and His Word. The world, including the religious
world, is deceptive. The political, academic, artistic, sports, and business
worlds are all deceptive – the benchmarks and values of the present age are not
to be trusted. Only Jesus Christ and the Scriptures can be fully trusted, only
Christ can refine our vision and understanding, only He can renew our minds as
we present ourselves as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1 – 2). We are called to
live according to the Spirit and not according to the natural or carnal man
(Romans Chapter 8).
How can we know
that which is truly Beautiful and truly True and truly Good without knowing His
Word, the Bible? How can our vision be matured and refined without our eyes
being fixed on Jesus and His Word – for He reveals Himself in and through the
Bible? (Hebrews 12:2; Colossians 3:1 – 4; 2:1 – 3).
Our calling is
to meditate on His Word day and night (Psalm 1) as we teach others to obey
all that He has commanded us (Matt. 28:18 – 20). But how can we make
disciples if we are not disciples ourselves? How can we teach others what we do
not know?
How can I be a
husband, a father, a son, a brother, a friend, a neighbor, a coworker, if
the Bible, the Word of God, is not my center of gravity in Jesus Christ, if the
Scriptures are not forming my soul, in the Holy Spirit, into the image of Jesus
Christ?
Why will we not
eat of the Tree of Life?
God’s Word is
“more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold” (Ps. 19:10). The Bible is
a treasure house of beauty and light and life and joy – it is where we meet
Jesus and commune with Him, it is where we know the koinonia of the Trinity, it
is where we discover our lost and restored identity as sons and daughters of
the Living God.
And yet…we
ignore the Scriptures. We think the Book is nothing but data and information
and that we can take it or leave it. Men and women down through the centuries
have given their lives to preserve and transmit the Bible, and we can take it
or leave it. There are parts of the world today where people risk their lives
to distribute Scripture and share its message, and we ignore the Book.
Functionally the Bible means nothing to us.
There are men
and women who still devote their lives, and the lives of their families, to
translating the Bible in difficult cultures and regions – while we refuse to
open the Book even as we profess a high view of Scripture.
Why, people
don’t even bring their Bibles to church anymore – are they too heavy?
And then we
wonder about how our children are living? We wonder about our troubled
marriages? We wonder about the collapse of society? If salt has lost its
saltiness, what good is it?
Frank, the
only way to know the Bible is to read the Bible. The only way to build an
Ark for those we love is to know the Word and allow the Word to live within us
and through us – for that is being Christ to others.
Do we truly love
our spouses and families?
If we say we do,
then we will see the proof of that in our devotion to Christ and His Word, the
Bible. Anything less and we are deluding ourselves.
More to follow,
the Lord willing…
Much love,
Bob
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