The Umbrella and the Bible
It rained on my drive in to work this morning, but after I parked, the rain tapered off and it was only spitting as I walked to my building. I carried my umbrella, but didn’t open it for five or seven minutes. Instead, I carried the umbrella under my arm with my arms stuffed in warm coat pockets.
I didn’t use the umbrella because I didn’t think it’d make much difference since there was barely any rain. Instead, I squinted against the wet slapping wind and trudged on. When I finally began walking under my umbrella, I noticed just how much it had been raining and how much the umbrella did help.
How many of us do the same thing with God’s word? I assume most houses in America have Bibles. I also assume that most people don’t read them–they just sit there like a dead pet (as Don Miller says) and collect dust* If this is how we treat God’s truth, what good is it to us? If you see other people trying to live according to it, like I saw other people using umbrellas, and just paint them with the “hypocrites doing the double-standard thing” brush, God won’t be able to affect your life much.
But, if you only open and read the Bible and ask for understanding, God will use it to speak to you. That’s not a bunch of wishful thinking. Truth was true 4,000 years ago. It should still be true today, right?
Well, the rain is here. Open that umbrella and see the difference it makes.
*On a side note, is it possible to collect dust in the same way one collects coins or stamps? I know someone who once had a herd of dust bunnies under his bed. Now he’s in the Navy.
