|
 "It's
all Greek to me!" is an expression used to mean that one finds
something to be totally incomprehensible and meaningless.
That's the way the Bible was to me for almost forty years. I
remember as a twelve year old taking Saturday morning confirmation classes that it seemed
like a boring weekend edition of my junior high school social
studies class. Years later, while traveling on business, I
pulled a Bible out of the nightstand in the hotel, tried to read it and
soon put it back in the drawer. It made no more sense to me than if
it had been in Greek.
I had no faith and was cynical towards religion, but one Sunday, I found myself drawn to go to
church by myself, something I had never done before. I drove to a church I'd
never been to before. By some strange "coincidence," the one friend
I knew to be a Christian arrived in the parking lot at the same time as I
did, though this was not her church either. During the service, I
felt a presence that I'd never known before and that I couldn't explain,
but it made me painfully aware of the void of spirituality, and the absence of
God, in my life. After the service, I told
this friend that the Bible had never made much sense to me, and she
offered me hers to take to read. I left and went away by myself, not
knowing what I'd find, but somehow feeling I was holding something of
great value in my hands. Almost immediately after opening it, I found myself led
to words that plunged into my heart like a knife, giving me insights I'd
never seen before into human nature, and into my own nature, shortcomings
and failings.
Thoughts and behaviors I'd learned and held for decades as normal, mature and rational
crumbled before higher wisdom and insights into how life was meant to be lived.
I felt shame and humility in seeing myself against such a different
standard, but it changed me and I felt a peace and direction in my new understanding of what was once
all Greek to me.
How does one suddenly find incredible meaning and insight in something
that was once incomprehensible? The simple answer is that you have
to understand "Greek." The Bible is written to be understood on a
spiritual level, and it is only when you open your heart to the Spirit of
God that you can begin to understand it. Spend time with Greeks, show
enough humility and interest to want to learn their ways and you will grow
in your understanding of Greek. Spend time with God, show enough
humility and interest to want to learn His ways and you will grow in your
understanding of God.
I thought, 'Age
should speak; advanced years should teach wisdom.' But it is the
spirit in a man, the breath of the Almighty, that gives him understanding.
Job 32:7-8
"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has
conceived what God has prepared for those who love him-- but God has
revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the
deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man
except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the
thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the
spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand
what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words
taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing
spiritual truths in spiritual words. The man without the Spirit does
not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are
foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are
spiritually discerned."
1 Corinthians 2:9-14
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and
you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone
who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will
be opened. "
Words of Jesus Christ in Mat 7:7-8
"If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be
with you forever-- the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him,
because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives
with you and will be in you. "
Words of Jesus Christ in John 14:15-17
"You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth
and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched,
pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold
refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so
you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you
can see. Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and
repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my
voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. "
Words of Jesus Christ in Rev 3:17-20 "For
the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to
us who are being saved it is the power of God."
1 Corinthians 1:18
"But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the
Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you
of everything I have said to you. "
Words of Jesus Christ in John 14:26 |
