2 Timothy 3:15 And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
Matthew 18.3,4 And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
A little boy was reading his bible in his room at bedtime. In the living room were mom and dad talking. Every once in a while, they would hear their son say, “Wow” or “Awesome!” Dad, looking at his watch and seeing that his son should be asleep by now, says to his son from the bottom of the stairs, “Honey, put the video game away and go to sleep.” The son replies to his father, “Video game? Dad, video games are not awesome, nor do they deserve a wow. I am reading the gospels and watching Jesus raise the dead, heal sick people, share the gospel with sinners, walk on water!” The little boy was stoked. Dad, a Christian man, was filled with both joy and conviction.
The joy of course stemmed from the fact that his son found the bible to be more fascinating and awesome than a video game. The conviction stemmed from the fact that he had lost that sense of awe and wonder in his own bible reading. I too was convicted when I heard that beautiful story. What about you, my friend? Is there still that child like (not childish) sense of wonder and awe in the reading of God’s Word? Does our Scripture reading cause us to declare “awesome” or “wow?” Or have we gotten to the point where we can read the various healing accounts in Matthew chapter 8, and check off our daily bible reading box without any sense of wonder like when we read it for the first time. Beloved, may our bible reading experience be like this little boy’s. Do we, like this little boy, place ourselves “right there” with the crowd of people seeing Jesus teach and touch people with amazement and wonder?
Scripture is a collection of God inspired accounts that are able to make us wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. It is a book that is simply profound and profoundly simple. It blows the minds of the intelligent, but is written in such a way that even a child can understand it’s message. So, are we the little boy in this story, or are we the dad? Has the thrill of “watching Jesus work” and knowing Jesus gotten lost in our pursuit of bible knowledge? Like the church at Ephesus in a Revelation 2, we can be so “grown up” and biblically correct to the point that we lose our first love for the “ooh and aaah” of lesser things.
May we read the bible like a child. May we determine to believe and obey what God says. May our Scripture reading cause us to fall deeper in love with Jesus and the wonders of His Word.
