A Book of Good News
Many of us approach the Bible not as oxygenating, but as suffocating. We see the Bible lying there on the end table. We know we should open it. Sometimes we do. But it is usually with a sense of begrudged duty. Life is demanding enough, we think. Do I really need more demands? Do I have to hear even more instruction telling me how to live?
That’s an understandable feeling. But it is lamentably wrong. And it brings me to the central thing I want to say about the Bible as we think about how real sinners get traction for real change in their lives. The Bible is good news, not a pep talk. News. What is news? It is reporting on something that has happened. The Bible is like the front page of the newspaper, not the advice column. To be sure, the Bible also has plenty of instruction. But the exhortations and commands of Scripture flow out of the Bible’s central message, like ribs flowing out of a spine or sparks from a fire or rules of the house for the kids. Paul said that the Old Testament was written so that “through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope” (Rom. 15:4). He said, “The sacred writings . . . are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 3:15). The Bible is help, not oppression. It is given to buoy us along in life, not drag us down. Our own dark thoughts of God are what cause us to shrink back from opening and yielding to it.
When we yawn over the Bible, that’s like a severe asthmatic yawning over the free offer of a ventilator while gasping for air. Read the Bible asking not mainly whom to imitate and how to live but what it shows us about a God who loves to save and about sinners who need saving. Read More
While I agree for the large part with what Dane C. Ortlund writes, I don't believe that we can claim to be followers of Jesus without studying and emulating his character and studying and following his teaching and example. It is very nature of discipleship. God was in Jesus not only to reconcile us with himself but also to teach us how we should live. Jesus himself makes that claim. As James points out, a faith that is not exhibited in actions is not a vital faith. It is a dead faith. We certainly should immerse ourselves in the story of God's love. At the same time we should also show our love for God by emulating the character of the Son and following his teaching and example. This is something Jesus himself urges us to do. One of the reasons that people are not embracing Christianity in the United States is too many of us who claim to believe in Jesus do not act like we do. We claim to love Jesus but we do not keep his word. There is a hugh gap between what we profess and what we practice.
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