Fully Devoted: The ConclusionSample

Dirt and Divinity

“We are all storytellers. We all live in a network of stories. There isn’t a stronger connection between people than storytelling.” —Jimmy Neil Smith

The Bible is a story that leads us to Jesus and invites us to become like Jesus. As we discovered yesterday, the most common form of writing that makes up the Scriptures is narrative. This is important because, more than any other medium, stories have the ability to communicate information, provide meaning, facilitate communication, inspire change, and invite participation. This doesn’t mean that the rest of the biblical writings aren’t important. Of course they are. The poetry, prophecy, laws, sermons, and letters are absolutely essential to the makeup of the Scriptures. They provide invaluable color and commentary to the story of God’s redemptive plan to rescue humanity and restore Creation.

Today, we’re going to discuss one of the aspects of the Bible that, when understood properly, provides a really important framework to help approach the Bible with wisdom, humility, and confidence.

The Bible is a story, inspired by God and written by people, that leads us to Jesus and invites us to become like Jesus.

This isn’t like any other book. The Bible wasn’t solely formed by human hands, and God didn’t put it together in isolation. Instead, God worked through people to bring these words together into the form we have today.

Reading the Bible wisely means resisting the temptation to overemphasize the humanity of the Bible while underemphasizing the divinity of the Bible. When this happens, we can start to see the Bible as a book full of irrelevant laws and outdated teachings. It’s a book that may have been helpful in the past, but we just don’t need it anymore. Not only that, but when we ignore the divinity of the Bible, we miss out on opportunities to experience the power and presence of God in our study of the Scriptures.

And, reading the Bible wisely means resisting the temptation to overemphasize the divinity of the Bible while underemphasizing the humanity of the Bible. When this happens, it can be easy to forget that every single book of the Bible was written by people in a different time, place, and culture than us and to people in a different time, place, and culture than us. When we forget about the humanity of the Bible, we miss out on so much of the beauty and brilliance of the Scriptures because we don’t take the time to discover what these words would have meant to the original audience so that we can actually understand what they’re supposed to mean to us today.

But when we begin to see the Bible as the work of human authors and divine inspiration, we can start to discover all the wonder and power found within. This approach allows us to experience the Bible as a book that invites our questions, engages our curiosity, and draws us into the presence of God.

The Bible was inspired by God and written by people. It is a book constructed through the joining together of heaven and earth. This should not surprise us. Because this has been God’s desire from the beginning. For heaven and earth to be united. And for people to be in partnership with Him.

All the way back in Genesis 1 and 2, we see heaven and earth overlapping, with human beings given the job of partnering with God in ruling over this heaven-and-earth space called Eden. And human beings themselves are the result of heaven and earth being joined together. In Genesis 2, God forms the first person out of the dust and breathes His divine breath into them. We’re dust brought to life through the breath of the Divine.

Then, after heaven and earth are ripped apart and our partnership with God is ravaged, God puts a plan in motion to undo the damage of the Fall. He calls a man named Abram and promises to bless all the nations through His family.

This pattern of humans partnering with heaven repeats itself over and over again throughout the biblical story as God’s plan moves forward.

Fast-forward to the New Testament: We see God take this whole thing one step further by becoming a human being. God puts on flesh and blood. He houses His divine nature in a human body. He walks this earth as the Messiah, Jesus.

And then, after His resurrection from the dead and ascension into the heavenly realm, God sends His Spirit to dwell inside His people, the Church. The divine Spirit encased within human bodies. The rest of the story follows the people of God, the Church, carrying on the mission of bringing heaven and earth back together through the power of the gospel as we look forward to New Creation.

This is the story of the Bible. Heaven and earth being created by God, ripped apart by sin, and brought back together by Jesus. And it’s a story that has been written down and spread through the joining together of earthly authorship and heavenly inspiration.

The Bible is a story, inspired by God and written by people, that leads us to Jesus and invites us to become like Jesus.

By seeing the Bible as this wonderful construction of heaven and earth that tells the story of heaven and earth, we’re able to approach the Bible with so much more wisdom, humility, and confidence than we otherwise would. This perspective helps us to go into the Bible expecting the same Spirit that was at work when these words were first written to be at work as we read them.

Journaling Questions

• What verses stand out to you in today’s reading? Write them in your journal.
• What do you think it looks like to approach the Bible humbly?
• What does it look like to approach it with curiosity?

Memory Verse

“’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ’Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:30-31 NIV