No Throw-away Lines: Day 1
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the child of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work…
2 Timothy 3:16 ESV
God doesn’t have throwaway lines. Jennifer Kennedy Dean
Throw-away lines are remarks delivered casually or as an aside that seem to have little to do with advancing the storyline. They can often seem unimportant to or disconnected from the narrative.
When Bible teacher Jennifer Dean made her remark, I believe she was issuing a friendly word of caution. Whether we intend to or not, it is too easy to transfer our Bible Adventures book or Veggie Tales CD’s to our study of Scripture, seeing the Bible as a big storybook, one where we bounce from story to story.
The Bible is a big book: two parts, sixty-six chapters and 1200 pages in standard font which leaves a lot of ink between those familiar accounts. But when our understanding of it is story-shaped, it is too easy to read past some of Scripture’s most brilliant insights. In only a few words, a seeming throwaway line to the casual reader, can become a golden key that unlocks a new facet of truth to us.
How often I—maybe you, too—have only dipped into a devotion during hectic times or skipped over Scriptures to complete a Bible study. And, of course, I am the loser. But the grace of God that abounds beyond what we deserve will reward us if we keep seeking, however imperfectly. It is to those that can’t be bothered or won’t be taught, that the Holy Spirit’s mined gold is never revealed.
From the beginning to the end, and in everything in between, Scripture is the unfolding account of God’s plan and purpose for His Creation. Often He chooses to use story form because He made His people to both enjoy and learn well from stories. God isn’t in a hurry to reveal everything He knows. Those “throwaway lines,” one discovers with growth and maturity, aren’t unnecessary or pointless, but are shedding a grand and glorious light on the real story which, is of course, God Himself.
Nancy Shirah
