RABBONI...which is to say, Master

Some where along the line as I was growing up I got the impression that knowing the scripture was the same thing as knowing God. I made it my goal in life to answer my questions and the questions of others with a “scriptural” answer. Before long I had developed a “ready reference” to all the questions I might be asked. And it will not come as a surprise to most that I was also quite legalistic, and narrow in my interpretations and applications of the scripture to those questions. What followed next was a very judgmental attitude of those who might hold a different opinion or understanding from my own. I felt that what kept them from coming to the same conclusions was just their prejudice, pre-conceived ideas and error that someone had taught them. I knew a lot of scripture, but I did not know God, that is, know Him in relationship.

Jesus said to a group of folks in His day, with very similar attitudes as my own, “You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life. (John 5:39,40). It is so easy to confuse knowledge of Scripture with knowledge of God. We can learn His attributes, the commands and directives. We can even learn to tell the same stories He told and still not KNOW Him in relationship.

“The Scriptures are many things—letters, parables, sermons, poems, histories, biographies, liturgies, songs. But behind all these multiple literary genres, the backdrop of everything is the greatest love story ever told. What if God means for all of Scripture to be God’s love story to us? What if God never intended the Bible to be strip-minded for propositions, or dissected and analyzed like a stiff leopard frog pulled from a bottle of formaldehyde? What if God never wanted the Bible to be turned into an interesting library of varied and profound literature or a stringent code of conduct?”

“What if the Bible instead is our shoebox full of love letters, our living library of family scrapbooks and diaries that connect us to our ancestors, helping us know them so we can know ourselves and understand what our family name stands for? What if its’ our storyboard of relationships from which we learn how to form friendships and deal with the people and problems we encounter?” (Into the Mystery…Out of the Question” by Leonard Sweet).

One of the most perplexing scriptures for me for many years was a statement from Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. “Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!' (Matt. 7:22-23). These were obviously works for God! They were done in the name of God! But those who performed them were not KNOWN by God! How can you be a prophesying, demon casting, miracle performer and not be known by God? There was no relationship.

The angels of heaven are perfect in there obedience, but they were not created for relationship. They were created to obey. You and I, first and foremost, were created for relationship. If you don’t get everything else right—get that right!