The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"Personal"
"Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart… His mother kept all these sayings in her heart" (Luke 2:19; 51).
Many have surmised that the accounts of the Lord Jesus Christ's early life recorded by Luke were communicated to him by Mary. If so, the chronicle takes on a special and intensely personal meaning. Indeed, a mother's account of her child will always be told in ways no other narrative can describe.
This speaks to the intensely relational nature of Scripture. As the saying goes, "The Bible is the only book in existence that comes with its Author." This reminds me of a favorite rendition of Charles Dickens' story, "A Christmas Carol," in which British actor Anton Lesser portrays Dickens reading his tale to a collection of friends in a beautiful parlor on Christmas Eve. Lesser's masterful performance provides a powerful sense of the personal nature of the story, infusing the characters, scenes and settings with a connection made possible only by an author narrating his own words.
"The things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual" (I Corinthians 2:11-13).
We do well to remember this when reading the Scriptures. Approached in humility and faith, the Bible speaks as a Voice to our hearts no less than offering words to our minds. We should ask the Author to narrate His masterpiece, as it were, trusting Him to make personal His words to our person. Indeed, like Lesser's portrayal of Dickens' narration to loved ones, only the Holy Spirit can touch our hearts and illuminate our minds through the history, doctrine, poetry, prophecy, and narrative of God's intimate dealings with the humanity He so loves. "O send out Thy light and Thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto Thy holy hill, and to Thy tabernacles" (Psalm 43:3).
If it be true that Mary recounted to Luke the things she pondered and kept in her heart, wouldn't it have been sublime to have heard her tell the stories that became such a beautiful portion of God's Word? Even more sublime, however, what if our readings of Scripture offer to us the Holy Spirit's personal portrayal of the Lord Jesus to our hearts? We should - we must - view them accordingly. The Scriptures come with the Spirit to those devoted to the Savior. Nothing can be more personal in our lives. And nothing more speaks of the love and grace for us God ponders in His heart, and desires to reveal to our hearts.
"Call unto Me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not."
(Jeremiah 33:3)
"Incline my heart unto Thy testimonies."
(Psalm 119:36)
Weekly Memory Verse
Call unto Me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.
(Jeremiah 33:3)
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