Ouch.

I have just been slapped in the face. Listen to what Jesus had to say here:

You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.

John 5:39-40

Jesus was talking to the Pharisees here, telling them that they were complete hypocrites. They were hypocrites because though they looked to the Scriptures, they refused to look to Jesus. I thought to myself, “Goodness gracious, that’s me!” I don’t know about you, but I know that I am far too often guilty of looking for life in the Scriptures, instead of going straight to the source. Jesus was upset at the Pharisees for this very shortcoming. They were so wrapped up in searching the Scriptures and obtaining knowledge that they missed the point completely.

You see, the Pharisees loved the Scripture. In fact, they started out very well as far as that is concerned. They formed as a group of priests and rabbis who were sick of Jews who didn’t follow the Law. They interpreted the Scriptures literally, and in general had very solid doctrine. They opposed the liberal Sadducees, as well as extremist groups on the far right. You might compare their beginnings to the Calvary Chapel movement. I’m taking some liberties there, I know, but the similarities are undeniable. Over time, however, they began to place a higher importance on God’s word than on God Himself. Dangerous decision.

If you look back at the above quote, you’ll see that Jesus doesn’t necessarily have a problem with the Pharisees searching the Scriptures. In fact, he admits that the Scriptures bear witness of Him. His problem is that they think that they have eternal life in the Scriptures. This is a huge problem. Only Jesus is capable of giving eternal life. Yes, he reveals Himself to us through His Word, but the Bible is meant to point us to Jesus. It is a means to an end, not an end in and of itself.

Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.

John 4:13-14

I think that sometimes Christians (especially in the circles I frequent) tend to focus more on the Bible than on Jesus. Don’t get me wrong, the Bible is great. It is God’s living word. The problem is that often we’d rather spend time in the Bible than spend time with Jesus. We have an issue, and instead of going to Jesus we go to the Bible. Do you see the problem here?

Here’s the root issue: the Pharisees didn’t want to see Jesus as who He was. It was too uncomfortable. He even told them that if He were anyone else, they would surely believe His words. Yet because of Who He was, they refused to believe in Him. We have the same issue. It is often more convenient, more comfortable to put our faith in something tangible. We can pick up our Bibles, open them up, see them with our eyes. But that’s not really faith, is it? No, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Look at the countless believers in persecuted nations who have little or no access to the Bible. What do they have faith in? Jesus Christ.

Again, I’m not advocating that we all stop reading our Bibles, I’m just saying that we need to rethink our priorities. Jesus had harsh words for those Pharisees, I pray that we would stop being like them. All too often we worship the Bible instead of worshipping God. Granted, it’s much more comfortable to worship that which is tangible, but God never called us to be comfortable, did He?

I didn’t think so.