You know what the Bible is? Real. It is real. All of it. Real life. Real people. Real trials. Real concerns. Real doubts. Real fears. Real anger. Real joy. Real love. Real hope. Real conflict. Real solutions. Real Truth. Real sin. Real heartache. Real pain. Real pleasure. Real anticipation. Real wonder. Real pride. Real gratitude. Real shame. Real surprise. Real pride. Real love. Real people. (I said the last two twice.)
I did not always think this way. Bible, real? Hardly. I thought the Bible to be myth, fairytale, fantasy. Maybe some of those Bible folk could have been real. But more likely they were made up to help move along the Bible narrative. Sort of like a Hollywood script.
I thought, sure, some people and stories could be based on real life occurrences…but most Bible stories were vastly exaggerated to help create a compelling and captivating story for the ages. Hollywood before Hollywood.
I have read a lot of books in my life. Easily numbering in the thousands. I like to read, no secret. But I rarely enjoyed fiction. I read to learn, to improve, to better myself. Non-fiction, to me, was the path to learning and growing. Hence, the Bible was shelved in my mind alongside dusty old fiction books that were pressed upon me by teachers and professors or well-meaning friends.
Where did my view of the Bible develop? How did this belief form that Scripture was no more beneficial to my life than the drama filled, gossiping plotlines, and exaggerated storylines of good old Roman and Greek mythology? The world. THE WORLD. A culture and society that has hit the delete button on God’s Word.
Truth? Read this book, watch this video, open this newspaper, indulge in this magazine, go to this school, type in this website. Ahhh, the world of truth. Everyone has one right?
What did years of worldly education, learning, reading, and listening teach me about God’s Word?… (few examples incoming) …Jealous siblings selling off their brother Joseph who then amassed great power in Egypt. David being masterful with a sling shot… (every kids dream.) Stone tablets. Magic fruit. Manna on demand. Parting of an actual sea? Water into wine. Walking on water. Raising of the dead…. all seemed fanciful, drama filled, Hollywood scripted perfection. Fiction…check. Interest…when I need a good escape from reality. The world had molded my views…
Something was missing… (Everything was missing).
When I picked up that fresh looking Bible… (it was 40 years old!) and started reading those very thin pages and small words…the world changed. I changed. I didn’t realize it in that moment, but God began transforming my life with 1 sentence… “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” From that moment on, nothing in Scripture felt fanciful, mythological, or drama filled.
I had a great education. Great career. I learned a great deal. Read and read and read. I had my hand on the pulse of reality and the world (or so I thought.) …but I did not have the Truth.
You can read every book out there. Every book that helps heal you, guide you, direct you, drive you, motivate you. Every book that explains life, purpose, meaning…why am I here, where am I going, where did I come from, how should I live, what is the point in all this, what is wrong with the world?
Everything begins with the Truth. The Truth is Jesus Christ. If He is missing from your life, everything is missing.
Jesus is everywhere in the Bible. That is why the Bible is not just a bunch of stories. A bunch of tall tales and elevated fiction.
At the beginning, I repeated Real Love and Real People. That is the Bible. Jesus is transforming Real People with real life situations and real-life emotions throughout every single page of Scripture.
Jesus is doing it because of Real Love. He loves every single real-life person that seeks Him and says, “I am empty without You.” We all need Jesus. And we all need His transformational Word. The very Word of God.
We MUST stop turning to the world for answers and solutions. Everything we need for righteous living is within the pages of God’s Word. God leaves nothing out of His Word that we need in life because God’s Will is that we be saved (John 6:40).
The Bible is the measuring stick for any “truth.” The Bible is the measuring stick for “real.”
Society, culture, tradition, popular opinion of the world is emptiness without the measuring stick of Biblical Truth.
What is the Bible? REAL TRUTH GIVEN IN REAL LOVE!
Let us pray that we listen to the Truth.
I would love to speak with anyone seeking a relationship with Jesus and His transformational Word.
Blessings,
Pastor Jason Pauley
