SEARCHING THE SCRIPTURES

John Wesley called himself homo unius libri -- a man of one book. His devotion to the Bible is unquestioned. Wesley termed the involvement of people with the Bible a Means of Grace. But, his term for that involvement was not "read the Bible." He didn't say, "cherry pick the Word of God." He called it Searching the Scriptures. Searching implies a degree of intentionality and thoroughness. In Luke 15, the Evangelist paints two pictures, one of a lost sheep and one of a lost coin. In both instances, the individuals search for that which is lost. Now, if a sheep is lost, one could go stand on the top of the hill and look one direction, then climb down and check under a bush, and perhaps amble over to a stand of trees and check to see if the sheep is there. One might even locate the sheep. But, that method is not likely to be productive. In the same manner, when the woman misplaces a coin, she doesn't look on the kitchen windowsill, then check under the recliner, and follow that with a rummaging around through yesterday's clothes. In each instance the searchers are depicted as performing their examinations in a systematic fashion. In that manner, they locate that which was lost.

Searching the Scriptures in no way implies a haphazard hopscotching through the Bible. Searching the Scriptures is a discipline that involves the execution of a concrete plan designed to make scripture a part of who we are. It is not an activity that commends the Bible to us word by word, or line by line. Rather, to Search the Scriptures is to commit the Bible to heart. This is not necessarily "by heart," as most of us don't have the gifts to memorize Genesis to Revelation. But, we can take Scripture's truths to heart, and therefore discern what their real implication is for the living of our lives. 

-- Rick Pinkston in his blog called Gutenberg's Workshop


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