The prayer for this week is a great reminder about Scripture:
Blessed Lord,
who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning:
Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them,
that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ;
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
I admit that I need reminding that the trajectory of all scripture is to point us to Jesus Christ.
Sometimes, we use the Bible to beat people over the head with rules or threats. Other times, we read the Bible to find proof texts to support our ideas or make a point. Sometimes, we read and underline passages because it makes us feel more spiritual than others. I love the feeling of carrying a well-worn Bible to church, partly because it’s kind of impressive.
”Oh, look at my worn-out Bible! Why, I’m just ALWAYS READING IT.”
I’m just being honest.
Jesus was always in conversations with people who did a whole lot of scripture reading but who had missed the entire point of it.
One day, He was criticized (by those who knew the Scriptures backward and forward) for having the gall to break the law by healing a man on the Sabbath. In response he said, “You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me! Yet you refuse to come to me to receive this life.” (John 5)
If all our studying, underlining, meditating, and learning doesn’t help us embrace the blessed hope of eternal life in Christ, we are doing it wrong.
This week’s prayer challenges us to seek that life in the One who is the Word of God—Jesus—through the scriptures that point us to Him.
Praying for you this week,
Rachel