That one sentence!

Have you ever read something or heard something and had just one sentence jump out at you?  I'm not just talking about something funny or interesting.  I'm referring to something more like an admonishment.

That happened to me a couple weeks ago. (And yes, it's still on my mind.)  A pastor was preaching and he said; "Stop reading the Bible like the newspaper!"  That's the line that hit me.  Kinda like a pop in the nose that sets you back on your heels.  One of those, I-don't-know-what-he-said-next because I was still thinking about what he just said.

I have to confess, way too often, I treat the Bible as means of information and not a tool of transformation.  This is God's Word.  You know - God.  The One who knows how many hairs are on your head.  Who knew you before you were even born.  Who knows how many days you have on this earth.  The God who was; who is; and who is to come.

What prompted me to write this today was just this morning I was reading the story in Mark 5 about the demonic man whose demons Jesus cast out into the pigs.  Trinity professor D.A. Carson commented that the people in the region begged Jesus to leave, because "they prefer pigs to people, their financial security to the transformation of a life."

I like the way Eugene Peterson puts it at the end of the Sermon on the Mount.  Tell me if this doesn't set you on your heels just a little bit.