I’m a youth counselor at a residential facility. And this morning at work, while cleaning his room, my counselee was blasting Michael Jackson’s hit, “Man in the Mirror.” While bobbing my head, I flashed back to the first time I heard it—twenty years ago. I was a fourth-grader, and my parents had just bought the cassette—not the CD, but the cassette. I remember rewinding the tape again and again to memorize the lyrics. I remember singing before the mirror: “I’m starting with the man in the mirror…Ooh!” Then he interrupted my trip down memory lane. “Enis,” he yelled, “what you know bout dat Michael Jackson, yo?!” I yelled back, “Yeah, that’s my jam! That’s a classic, yo!” Right then, to remind me to include this story in this chapter, I jotted this in my journal: “Scripture—A Classic—Blasting Man in the Mirror—Made me think of 3rd/4th grade.”
Like Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror,” the Bible is a classic, inasmuch as it has endured the test of time. Literary classics are must-reads that were here yesterday, are here today, and will be here tomorrow. Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, William Zinsser’s On Writing Well, Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, Toni Morrison’s Beloved, and Richard Foster’s Celebration of Discipline are classics. Still, the Bible is the classic of classics. As such, the Bible is relevant for our lives today. In this classic book—this book of books, the Word of God—we may find comfort, inspiration, guidance, instructions, encouragement, entertainment, healing, answers, and more. Nevertheless, many people—Christians and non-Christians alike—spend as much time reading Scripture as does a fish jaywalking down the street. Consequently, they deny themselves the benefits listed two sentences ago. Moreover, the next few posts will address many people’s “problem” with Scripture, consider the importance of spending time in Scripture, and offer a few benefits of Scripture.
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