Bible as Narrative

I've been reading a lot of different theologians chime in on the current state of American "Churchianity" and had some time to process on the bike this morning. One of the prime topics that's being kicked around by a lot of the authors that I'm reading (McLaren, Dan Kimball, Donald Miller, Erwin McManus) is the way that the church in America has turned the Bible into a self help book where people are told that if they just look in the right places, they'll find the answers they need to whatever situations they may be facing. Not that there isn't some validity to that thought since we see so much of what is common to the human condition in its pages, but as I was riding this morning and thinking about how Scripture really is more a narrative of God interacting with His creation and with His people over time, it struck me how backward the self help approach to Scripture is.

It seems like we would be better served to read Scripture to come to understand more about who God is instead of trying to come to a better understanding of what the "thou shalls" and "thou shalt nots" are for us or how we can get through the latest life issue we find ourselves in. When we come to a better understanding of God and His character, we will still see ourselves in contrast to who He is. If the goal of the Christian life is to be more like Christ, we would be better off learning more about who the Trinity is (I used "is" instead of "are" on purpose) so we know better how to relate to God than to learn proper behavior and ettiquette.

I know earnest people desiring to serve God, who get so wrapped up in the trappings of trying to live according to disciplines that are supposed to bring them closer to God that they have instead begun to serve the disciplines they created and adopted and have left real relationship with God as a secondary goal. Not only have I known these people, I have been counted among them at times.

God is so other, so holy, that the pursuit of knowing Him as He truly is takes more time than we have to give, but is really His desire for us. There is always more to know. I think the most astute theologians who have the closest relationships with God will only begin to understand the whole picture of Who God is.

It is as though we've been given a puzzle to put together without the box to look at. I don't know about you, but when I do a puzzle, I tend to start by trying to do the border. Just from the border, you can get an idea of what the subject matter of the puzzle is. If it is a landscape, you can tell a little bit about the terrain, the time of day, the color of the sky and any number of other small clues that hint at what the bigger picture is.

Some would say that the Bible is the box with the picture, but I would disagree. I would say the Bible is the edging that helps us define what the border is. That's an initial response, and therefore subject to change, but no amount of text contained anywhere can fully explain God. There is mystery wrapped up in God's character that we can only begin to imagine and are even farther from being able to explain, so while the Bible is the the inspired Word of God and contains enough to keep us in worship and growing in relationship with God for the full length of our days, I don't believe it is the whole story. If it were, there would be books in it that specifically tell the stories of St. Francis of Assisi, Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Wesley, Martin Luther King, and a story that was specifically about the life and events of Matt Morrison and his relationship with his Creator. Each story adding more to the God story, each adding a piece to the puzzle, each completing a part of the picture helping us see more clearly Who God is.

I feel like we only get to put the border together in this life, just begin to see this God of ours while we wait for the day when we shall know fully even as we are fully known. We will probably be surprised at what the subject of the puzzle actually looks like after years of guessing based on what we saw in the border.