Read A Banned Book

This devotion is a bit late, but I find it ironic that Christians are pointed out by society as intolerant book burners, yet society has so many issues with people reading the Bible or talking about Jesus freely.

The American Library Association has designated this week as Banned Books Week in celebration of the freedom to read and to express one’s opinion “even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular.”

The Bible is the all-time bestselling book, but in some parts of the world it is banned because it’s considered dangerous. The Bible is dangerous, however, only to those who fear finding out that they are wrong. It’s dangerous to those who exploit the weak and the innocent, who use force to keep others enslaved in poverty and ignorance, who don’t want to give up their favorite sin, who believe that salvation can be found apart from Christ.

No one wants to be told they are wrong. No one wants to hear that their behavior is putting themselves and those they love in danger or that God’s patience will eventually wear out. Yet that was the message God told Jeremiah to write (Jer. 36:2). When His message was read to King Jehoiakim, the king cut up the scroll and threw it into the fire (v.23).

The only way to know we are right is to be willing to discover where we are wrong. Read the all-time bestselling banned book, and let it reveal to you the truth about God—and about yourself.

Another Chance

I think there are times where we are so depressed about an issue or a secret sin we are struggling with that we feel that we are of no use to God–unlovable, unneeded, irrelevant. We forget that those are the best times for God to do His greatest works in our lives. At that point, we are stripped of our pride and our need to do things ourselves.

When we let God take over at that point in our lives, then He can bring us out of our depths for something phenomenal. Just as surely as I find I am attacked and brought down in the midst of something exciting for God, I also find that I am lifted up high in the midst of my own self-pity and self-doubt. It is only when we are malleable that we can be molded by the master Potter.

For almost 100 years, a huge piece of flawed Carrara marble lay in the courtyard of a cathedral in Florence, Italy. Then, in 1501, a young sculptor was asked to do something with it. He measured the block and noted its imperfections. In his mind, he envisioned a young shepherd boy.

For 3 years, he chiseled and shaped the marble skillfully. Finally, when the 18-foot towering figure of David was unveiled, his student exclaimed to Michelangelo, “Master, it lacks only one thing—speech!”

Onesimus was like that flawed marble. He was an unfaithful servant when he fled from his master Philemon. But while on the run he came to know the Master Sculptor. As a changed man, he served God faithfully and was invaluable to Paul’s ministry. When Paul sent him back to Philemon, he commended him as one “who once was unprofitable to you, but now is profitable to you and to me” (1:11). He asked Philemon to receive Onesimus back as a brother (v.16).