KELSIE PETERSEN | Contributor and a Boy-Mom
Twice a year, as part of my job, I have the privilege of traveling around my home province to visit homeschooling families, where the children (and the parents) share what they have been learning throughout the year. It’s my favorite part of the job, as I get to see different styles of learning, see kiddos flourishing, and share in the joy of what they’ve accomplished since we last met. As a bonus, the school jurisdiction I work for is Christian, so faith is an important part of my conversations with each family. Even over just the past two years I’ve been working in this field, I have seen many of these children grow in their faith, and some of the conversations and comments are enough to make me stop and think.
One particular comment made by a student this week gave me a new appreciation, not only for students’ ability to be so insightful at such a young age, but for the way we can all approach Scripture. The student was telling me about his personal Bible reading, and his mom remarked that he had been reading through the Gospels recently. He piped up and said that, not only had he read through them, but he was on his fourth time through, now in the Gospel of Luke. I had to make sure I had heard correctly. This young man, not yet in high school, of his own accord, had chosen to read through the Gospels again and again. His reason? “I learn or see something new every time.” My heart needed a minute.
This young man, not yet in high school, of his own accord, had chosen to read through the Gospels again and again. His reason? “I learn or see something new every time.”
Over the winter, my family started hosting a small group Bible study in our home. We have been going, ever so slowly, through the Gospel of John. I have heard and read the stories in this and the other Gospels probably hundreds of times in my life, and I know I’ve read through the book several times. But I had a “lightbulb” moment when we were looking at the story of Jesus’ first miracle, turning the water into wine. This story is familiar to me, not only from reading it and hearing it (mostly from spending hours on Sabbath afternoons, listening to the Bible Story tapes), and also from the age-old debate in Adventism :“Was it really wine Jesus changed the water to? Surely Jesus wouldn’t condone drinking alcohol!” But that’s a whole other blog post!
That day, I realized that in this story, Jesus takes the water, which was to be used for the ceremonial cleansing, part of the Old Covenant rituals, and turns it into wine, which was to become the symbol of His cleansing blood under the New Covenant! Now, I may be late to this party, I admit, but for all the times I have read and heard that story, that correlation had never occurred to me before.
I’m sure there are a thousand stories that could be told by readers of this blog, by those who have left Adventism for the Gospel, of how they read and see new things in Scripture every time they open their Bibles, even if it’s a passage or a story they’ve heard since Cradle Roll. They see something new, some way that the story or passage, while standing alone, also weaves and connects into the biggest story of the plan of redemption, of Jesus’ finished work on the cross on our behalf, ushering in the New Covenant. The often quoted verse from Hebrews 4:12 says that “…the Word of God is living and active,” and it has seemed to me that this is another way that the “activeness” of the Word is true.
Instead of shedding unwanted layers, we dig deeper in and discover new, deeper and richer layers within the text. As we learn more about one book, reading through it again, or one portion of Scripture, it opens up new (to us) connections and understandings…
My very first post on this blog was comparing coming out of Adventism to peeling an onion: there are many layers to the process. Now I wonder if learning and growing in our understanding of Scripture is not similar in some ways—but opposite. Instead of shedding unwanted layers, we dig deeper in and discover new, deeper and richer layers within the text. As we learn more about one book, reading through it again, or one portion of Scripture, it opens up new (to us) connections and understandings, helping us to better see the themes and threads that weave through the Bible. The whole of the Word of God becomes more “alive” and seems to flow and intertwine to reveal more of the intricate tapestry of His story.
I’m not sure why the statement by my student this week struck me in the way that it did. Perhaps it was partly his youth, and partly it was my being reminded by someone so young of something I already knew but perhaps had pondered much in recent months. It’s something I’ve learned over and over again in my walk as a believer, and still it’s something I need to continue to learn and remember as the days and years go by. As I close in on having spent more of my life outside of Adventism than I did in it, my deep desire, as I pray is yours, is that the Word of God would continue to open itself to me, that it’s beauty, depth, and richness would continue to grow deep in my heart, so that I continue to be reminded of the wonder of the cross, of the resurrection, and of the sure and true hope I now have in Jesus for my future, both here on earth, and after. †
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