Paper Umbrella
When I was around six or seven years old, somebody gave me a little paper umbrella. It was put together with brightly painted tissue paper and slender sticks of bamboo and I could actually open and close it. It wore out quickly, but even after its paper top was tattered and it bamboo supports were broken it was still an interesting plaything.
Dad is amazing!
I took the umbrella apart and I found a tiny strip of paper wrapped around and around the handle where the umbrella slid up and down. When I unfurled the paper, I saw that it was covered in unfamiliar writing so I took it to my dad and asked, “Daddy, what does this say?” He took a close look at it for a moment, mentioned that it was Chinese, and then began to read it aloud.
I was speechless! My Dad could read Chinese!
Dad and Jesus, worthy of my trust.
Of course, Dad faked his ability to read Chinese. He enjoyed amazing his little girl for a few minutes, but he soon let me know he was pretending. My dad liked to joke around, but he wasn’t into perpetuating deception.
Why did I believe something so impossible about my dad during those few minutes?
I believed him because he was trustworthy throughout my childhood. I felt secure in his love. I took to heart the things he told me, learned from him and wanted to be like him when I grew up. My dad gave me my first views of what God must be like.
As I grew up, I turned to the Lord Jesus as the reliable guide for my life. I studied his life and learned what he taught. I prayed in his name and his answers made me trust him more. My experiences with Jesus taught me to rely on him.
What did Jesus think of the Bible?
Reading the Bible is important, but I wondered if Jesus read the Bible and learned from it the way I do as his follower. Did Jesus even need to read the Bible to know how to live a good life?
By doing a bit of research I learned that Jesus did indeed study the Bible and learn from it. He quoted from about fourteen different parts of the Old Testament, the only Bible available to him at that time. Jesus told people that not a single letter of the Old Testament Scriptures would ever go away and all of it should be obeyed.
Jesus believed that the people in the Old Testament were real and their lives were accurately recorded in Scripture. He treated every historical account in the Old Testament as factual. He regarded the whole of Scriptures as authoritative and even told Satan that he, Jesus, lived by every word that proceeded from the mouth of God. Those words from the mouth of God were the Old Testament Scriptures. Jesus read, studied and memorized them throughout his life.
The Bible comforted Jesus
In his greatest moment of agony, at the moment of his death on the cross, it was Scripture that filled the heart of Jesus.
He quoted from Psalm 22:1, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
And from Psalm 31:5, “Into your hands I commit my spirit.”
These are the Psalms that occupied Jesus’ final thoughts and were uttered with his last breath.
Wonderfully, any despairing person of faith can identify with those two quotes. We get lost and feel forsaken sometimes, but, like Jesus, we can cling to the fact that God is still with us and our spirit is safe with him.
Reliable witness!
Is there a more reliable witness to the importance of studying the Bible than Jesus? Jesus meant it when he said, “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4) He lived, breathed, ate and drank the Scriptures; they were food for his soul. We can do no less as his followers.
My Dad liked to joke around with me when I was a child, but it was great to know that, bottom line, I could trust him. The most trustworthy guide who ever lived is Jesus. . . and he was guided by the Scriptures. Let’s do what Jesus did! Let’s make Scripture our guide for life.
Photo by Amy Shamblen at Unsplash