One day a week, I call my father early in the morning. It is our time to spend visiting, studying the Bible, and for me to ask questions. One morning, I defeatedly asked, “How will I ever know all you know about the Bible?” He lovingly replied, “Just keep going. Keep reading, keep studying, and you’ll get there.”
We have some dear family friends who raised two children while my folks were raising theirs. My father told me once that when he needed council, he found sound advice in his friend. When the kids were grown, their daughter went to a summer camp meeting. She called her parents one evening and said, “I have found the God of my parents.” Today she is married with four beautiful children, and they are raising them to serve God in the same manner her parents taught her.
There comes a time when we find God for ourselves. We cannot hang on to someone else’s experience and spiritual growth. Religion can be passed down – relationship cannot; relationship must be built.
“Too many Christians are not clear on the difference between their standing and their state. We are consecrated at the cross only once. After that, my defilement is handled daily with the Word…The daily dirtiness that soils our feet, hands, and face must be cleansed by the action of the Word…Rebellion and disobedience must be cleansed by the blood but filth that daily accumulates unbelievers must be cleansed by the washing of the water of the Word.” – Judson Cornwall.
The cross makes it possible for us to get to the Word. But the Bible affects the change in us that we so desperately need. Ponce de Leon went out across the Atlantic in a sailboat, looking for the fountain of youth, not realizing that Christians had it all along. The Bible is our life source, the fountain of youth that we seek. It will correct, challenge, and change us. And yet, it will leave you full of life and filled with blessings.
After Sunday service is dismissed, church cannot be over. It is just the beginning for the home. My dad used to say, “If your Bible is not falling apart, your life is.” The implication was that your Bible should be well-worn with fingerprints from where you have been.
My old Bible sits by my chair, where I climb the stairs each morning and sit with my steaming cup of tea. I open its pages to find it has been written in and highlighted so many times I have to look for clear space. The binding is falling apart, and some pages are so tattered that it’s hard to focus. I lost it once, and a sweet friend found it, not knowing who it belonged to at first glance. She said, “When I found it, I said to myself, ‘there is a Bible that has been loved.'” I have a new Bible I take with me now, but my old companion stays by my place of appointment —waiting for me to open it and study its pages.
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The other day I opened to the inside cover and saw the faded words my mother and father had inscribed twenty-three years ago. It tells of the wisdom, blessings, and victories found written in the Bible. It talks about the success one will have if applied. It reminds me of the heroes of faith I can glean from and gives me a glimpse of a reunion we will all have one day in Heaven.
However, as beautifully written as it is, the results ride upon my ability to hang on the coattails of those that have gone before me. Not hanging in such a way that requires constant supervision and pull, but the kind of fortitude that grips the coattails of those gone before because they have paved the way. The type of tenacity that refuses to quit and the will to carve out time for the Bible daily and watch its words change my life.
“But he (Rehoboam) rejected the advice which the elders had given him and consulted the young men who had grown up with him, who stood before him,” 1 Kings 12:8.
It is not the opinion of the young we need but the wise counsel of the gray heads. It is rare for me to ever hasten ahead without stopping and asking for advice, whether it concerns major topics like raising my children, marriage, or establishing my home – or seemingly insignificant matters like gardening, canning, or raising chickens. You will find me looking through my logbook for those with more knowledge in this area than I have. Time has tried and tested those of experience, and I listen (most of the time, wink).
Rehoboam lost the respect of the people and eventually half the kingdom because he refused to hang on the coattails of those who had been sent to teach him the way (1 Kings 12-14).
In The Count of Monte Cristo, Edmund Dontes looks at the dying priest and says, “But I don’t believe in God.” The priest looks at him with his last breath and whispers, “It doesn’t matter; He believes in you.”
God believes in you today. Climb the stairs to your place of solitude, open the Book and hang on the coattails of those who have gone before.
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