Designer

When I saw this conglomeration of carpet patterns, I thought the carpet layer must have lost his mind. It looked like he was working with the scraps from all his other jobs and just threw all this together to cover some bare concrete. No pattern, no plan, just looked like random pieces thrown together. This was the picture I took of the carpet at my feet today. All the patterns were visually jarring and this view certainly left a lot to be desired.

Everywhere my feet went, this was the view beside them, this patchwork of carpet, unplanned, and mismatched. I liked the various colors well enough, but could not imagine why they were put together in these patterns, so ragged and inscrutable.

Walking on, I kept looking at what was beneath my feet, pondering this odd carpet situation. After a while I began to see that the carpet is a lot like how I see my life: strange-shaped pieces of mismatched odd colors.

Pianist and musician: I do this fairly well and enjoy it.

Writer: I love to write, when I just sit down and do it...like now!

Wife: Some days I'm fairly good at this.

Mother/Grandmother: Love them all but don't think I do these roles as well as they should be done.

Bible student: Studying the Bible is food to me...when I actually do it.

Friend: I hope I'm a good friend to some...

I don't see how all these fit together and make any difference. What on earth does all this amount to? Am I just thrashing around in chaotic, mismatched hours and days, with no real purpose to it all?

After walking for a while, I happened to glance up from my feet, looking forward some distance across a large open space filled with these randomly mismatched pieces of carpet. And this is when I saw an amazing pattern emerge from the confusion. What had been ugly became beautiful as the different patches of carpet fit together to form the ribbons and rivers of carpet across the expanse of this room. Amazing!

The carpet layer had not been mad in his chaos; rather, he had seen the pattern from the beginning. He was creating beauty, using what had seemed to be no plan, ugly scraps, and thoughtless work. I loved the design! The colors were beautiful and the patterns were a delight to my eyes.

Then I considered my life: perhaps there is a viewpoint higher than "right at my feet" where most of it seems like so many scraps of carpet hastily glued together. Maybe there is a plan, a pattern, a design...easily seen and understood by the designer, if not by me.

I seem to remember reading some things this Designer said about the patchwork carpet of my life:

"I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

He says he " has saved me and called me to a holy life--not because of anything I have done but because of his own purpose and grace."

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

"For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. "

"The LORD will perfect that which concerns me; Your mercy, O LORD, endures forever; Do not forsake the works of Your hands."

I'm starting to think He planned for me all along! And those scraps of my life, maybe, just maybe, from His viewpoint they make...or will make...a beautiful pattern, the work of His hands, not mine.

When Reading the Bible is a Waste of Time

I did not write this article. It was written by a young friend of mine, Bryan Mowrey. His thoughts are starkly sobering to me...that's why I'm sharing it here.

I began regularly teaching the Bible four years ago at Jubilee Church St. Louis. And since then, there are several verses that sober me if not haunt me. Such as…

James 3:1, “Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur stricter judgment.”

Mark 9:42, “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.”

These verses (along with many others) are strong warnings to be keep my teaching Biblical and about Jesus, but none more haunting for me than John 5:38-40, Jesus addressed the Pharisees (who had the OT memorized) by saying,

“38 and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. 39 You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.”

As one who studies and teaches the Bible, these verses are especially sobering because they say that it is possible to read the Bible and do so in vain. When might our study of Scripture be in vain? When we make Scripture an end itself and fail to see Jesus as the trajectory of any text that we are reading, studying or preaching.

Life and ultimate truth is not found in the study of Scripture if it doesn’t lead us to Jesus. When Jesus is taken out of the equation, reading the Bible is a waste of time at best and can even become an idol (something we value over God).

How Can we Then Make the Most of Reading the Bible?
I think Luke 24:44-45 gives us the best answer,

“Now He said to them (the disciples), ‘these are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.”

Bottom line to getting the most out reading the Bible is to have Jesus Himself open our minds to understand the Scriptures and show us that they are really about Him. Having the best study tools won’t help you if Jesus doesn’t “open your mind”. Without Jesus, reading Scripture is as helpful as turning on the lights for a blind man. For sight to occur you need both light (external) and a good eye (internal). To understand Scripture you need to actually read it (external).

However, reading it isn’t enough. Jesus needs to open your mind (internal). Otherwise, you get caught up in the same game the Pharisees did called religion, legalism and idolatry. Therefore, pray before your read. Pray that He will open your mind to true understanding.