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Trivial Pursuit
The
prince of Grenada, an heir to the Spanish crown, was
sentenced to life in solitary confinement in Madrid's
ancient prison called "The Place of the
Skull." The fearful, dirty, and
dreary nature of the place earned it the name.
Everyone knew that once you were in, you would never
come out alive. The prince was given one book to read
the entire time -- the Bible. With only one book to
read, he read it over hundreds and hundreds of times.
The book became his constant companion.
After
thirty-three years of imprisonment, he DIED!
When they came in to clean out his cell, they found
some notes he had written using nails to mark the soft
stone of the prison walls. The notations were of this
sort: Psalm 118:8 is the middle verse of the Bible;
Ezra 7:21 contains all the letters of the alphabet
except the letter j; the ninth verse of the eighth
chapter of Esther is the longest verse in the Bible,
no word or name of more than six syllables can be
found in the Bible."
When
Scot Udell originally noted these facts in an article
in Psychology Today, he noted the oddity of an
individual who spent thirty-three years of his life
studying what some have described as: "The
Greatest Book of ALL time"
yet could only glean "trivia".
From all we know, he never made any spiritual
commitment to Christ, but he became an expert at
Bible
trivia.....
What
a shame! The
prince knew all about the BOOK,
but He did not know
the AUTHOR. The
problem? He
was looking for TRIVIA; he wasn’t looking for the
LORD.
Have YOU read HIS Book lately?
Perhaps you already know a lot about the BIBLE.
But, do you know the AUTHOR?
The
theme of the entire Bible is the salvation of man
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Yet, many read the Bible and never see JESUS,
the central Character.
Jesus said, "You search the Scriptures,
for in THEM you think you have eternal life; and these
are they which testify of ME. But you are NOT WILLING
to come to me that you may have life" (John
5:39-40).
God
has promised: "You will seek Me and find Me, when
you search for Me with all your heart" (Jeremiah
29:13). Therein
is the KEY to knowing God and His
will for our lives. The
Scriptures reveal Him to the genuine seeker (1
Corinthians 2:9-13)
One can learn of His great love for man from
His Word. The
magnitude of His love is evident in that He sent His
Son into the world to die for our sins (1 John 2:2).
The Scriptures also teach us HOW to respond to the
love of God: through faith
(Hebrews 11:6), repentance
(2 Corinthians 7:9-10), confessing
Christ (Rom 10:9-10), being baptized
(immersed) into Christ for the forgiveness of sins
(Acts 2:38; Galatians 3:27), AND following Him
faithfully -- for the rest of our lives (Revelation
2:10).
It
is time to put an END to trivial pursuits of Bible
facts. It
is time to pursue a knowledge of God and HIS will for
our lives through a diligent, sincere study of His
Word.
OUR salvation depends upon it!
God
bless you.
David A. Sargent,
Minister
Church of Christ at Creekwood
1901 Schillinger Rd. S.
Mobile, Alabama 36695
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