Last Sunday morning we presented our second graders with Bibles. It is something we do every year here at Johns Creek Presbyterian Church. After we presented the Bibles, I invited the kids who had received the Bibles to have a seat for the children's sermon. And while I was asking them about what a newspaper and the Bible they had just received had in common, I noticed that both of the young men who received a Bible were very focused on their Bibles and not that interested in what I was saying. They seem to be fascinated as they flipped through the pages. Normally I might be a little hurt because they weren't fascinated with what I was saying, but actually I was thrilled because they found this new Bible in their laps to be so interesting. My hope is that their Bibles would remain just as interesting in their coming years.

Karl Barth was probably the most influential theologian of the 20th century. He wrote four volumes of books, 500 to 700 pages each called Church Dogmatics. There is a story about a time Karl Barth was once teaching. Someone asked him how he would summarize all that was in his books. He paused and said this, “Jesus loves me, this I know, because the Bible tells me so.”

How did one of the deepest Christian thinkers and most effective teachers know about the love of Jesus? Because the Bible told him so! Friends, how do we encounter the risen Christ who loves us? One of the best ways is through the scriptures, both the Old and New Testaments. Through scripture we can find spiritual nourishment for our lives, as well as the strength and guidance us to do whatever it is God calls each of us to do.

Prayer for Today

Loving God, fill us with your words of grace and truth. Help us to find time to read from the scriptures you give us. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus the Christ, the Word made flesh who lived among us. Amen.