Article Contributed on: 12/14/2006 11:57:59 PM
There are 66 books in the Christian Bible, and I'm here to tell you that together they make for a whole lot of reading.
Mind you, it's always a valuable effort and if you're open to the experience you're always guaranteed to learn something new or to see some issue in a new light.
But still, Sixty-Six books; that's a pretty impressive collection of knowledge all in one place...
Thankfully, the totality of the work is divided along a number of different lines, with the most familiar being the Old Testament, (in Hebrew, the 'Tanakh") and the New Testament.
This seems to be most basic of the divisions and indeed the one that is most illustrative of the gap between Christians and Jews because it very clearly defines the life of Christ within the holy text.
But even beyond that, it's important to note that among all of those 66 books only one of them is commonly referred to - by name - as a verb: Acts.
And it surely makes sense, because if one were to consider the Christian life, the believer is supposed to hear and accept the Good News of Christ, (the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) and then
Act on that revelation.
Just as the word of God Lays it all out in the
Bible: when you get wise to the word of God, and accept the truth of his way, your footsteps are that much more steady.
But, aside from the historical data and pleadings and admonitions and advice that are laid out in Acts, there is an even more basic truth told within its pages. And it is such that it reveals - in my opinion - the difference between a religious believer and a "control freak..."
...
In the fifth chapter of the book of
Acts the head of the Jewish counsel is asked for his opinion as regards what is happening within the Jewish Community around them; most are following the old ways, some are seeking a new path and still others are forming a new church around this character called Yeshua, (salvation). What is to be decided?
In a bit of wisdom that could only be described as God-Inspirred, an honored member of the counsel named
Gamaliel stands before them to say that any action on their part will be fruitless if this new "movement" is part of God's plan. If, he argues, these men are following their own desires, then their movement will quickly fade away as have all similarly-themed revolutions to that point - meaning that action on the counsel's part is unnecessary.
But if these men are acting in accordance with God's will, the counsel would be unable to stop them no matter what they did, making any action on the part of the counsel meaningless!
Gamaliel's message was absolutely revolutionary, but certainly should not have been: If God wants this message or church or plan to succeed, then there's not a thing in the world that we can do as humans to stand in it's way. It's the very message of the entire Bible: God's will WILL be done.
As Christians it's important to realize that our actions matter, and even though we are called to act in certain ways at certain times, we should always remember to try and keep those actions within the guidelines God has laid out for us. Because to do otherwise is a course bound for failure, but if we follow His plan we can't help but succeed.
We are personally in control of exactly none of it...
Chris Stone attends First Baptist Church of Evergreen where he is a member of the Media Team. His opinions are not necessarily those of the congregation.