Charting Our Course 5-4-08
Mankind has often struggled with the problem of navigation. For land navigation, maps are especially helpful because they display prominent features (such as mountains) that can help travelers get their bearings; the development of common trade routes stems from the inability of mapmakers to develop helpful maps of certain areas (such as the great deserts) that do not have many fixed recognizable features. For maritime navigation, sailors often depended on their land navigation skills to follow coastlines; the exceptions to this were those seamen who could navigate across open oceans by using the stars. In fact, this was the state of maritime navigation until the 12th century and the invention of the mariner’s compass.
Within a couple centuries the magnetic mariner’s compass had become a fixture on most large ocean-going vessels, with the navigator being one of the most (and at times the most) important positions on board a ship. Only those who were properly trained knew how to correctly guide the ship; for most of the sailors, the compass operated by magic. In fact, many crewmen had tremendous reverence for the compass, being afraid to touch it and thus upset the forces that made it work. For most of us, this idea seems silly, but we have to remember that seamen of this time were especially superstitious.
Many Christians live their lives this way with regards to the Bible. While they have great reverence for the Bible, many even finding prominent places for storage and display, they rarely open the book up and read its contents. Many people who would be outraged at using a Bible to prop up a table practice the worst abuse of all: neglect. What, after all, is the purpose of the Bible? To give to man some holy relic to be enshrined in our houses? No, but rather to give us the word meant to be enshrined in our hearts, written by the one who wants to be the foundation of our lives.
“Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred? You also say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gift on it, he is bound by his oath.’ You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? Therefore, he who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. And he who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it. And he who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the one who sits on it. ” (Matthew 23:16-22 NIV)
Jesus said that the temple makes the gold sacred, and that the altar makes the gift sacred. So what is sacred about the Bible? Is it the book itself, or rather the words within? If you say that it is the words within that make the book sacred, do you read them? If it is the words within, do you listen and heed the message?
The Bible is sacred indeed, but not because it is old, beautifully bound, or perched in a place of honor. The Bible is sacred because it is our source for the words of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Let’s honor him properly and wear out our Bibles through diligent study, persistent reading, and joyful sharing. After all, the only way to properly chart your course is to open up the compass, read it, and then apply its message to your heading.
-Charles Peterson