The study of the Bible is a fascinating pilgrimage into the past. It is a journey we begin not primarily with a hunger for history but a craving for God. If all we want from the Bible is interesting stories and historical fact, we may find those in greater abundance elsewhere. If, however, we want to know how God fits into the framework of history, then we have come to the proper book. The Bible is primarily a book about God, about His people and about his will and ways for all humankind. We must not make it say more nor less than it says lest we be guilty of adding to or taking away from that which God has revealed. We bring to this book all our religious inclinations as well as our intellectual curiosities. As sincere Christians, we want to know what God has said and what God has done.

The Bible is our most tangible exposure to God's past activity. We learn of God back then so we may know of God now. There is a wholesome continuity which flows through the ages. It is the continuity of love, faith, grace, judgment, and of course God. The Bible is without question the greatest book, but there is a word of caution. We must never allow the book to become a substitute for God. In our haste to have a tangible object of worship, it is easy to make the Bible our idol. The devil is forever encouraging our idolatry by getting us to worship anything less than God Himself. He intercepts our highest motives and replaces that which is best with that which is good. He would turn the Holy Bible into a battleground for people more inclined to accent the container instead of the contents. The Bible means the most to us when we find the authority of the living God whose will we seek to obey.

The Bible is a book designed to aid our search for God. To find God is to experience the highest kind of love and in that love we find a desire to love and accept others as well as ourselves. We must never ignore the Bible's ability to point us to God, who in turn points us to one another with compassion, forgiveness, and respect. The God of the Bible does not seek to be illusive but rather inclusive in its appeal to invite "whosoever will" to come and drink from the springs of living water. "Come let us reason together, saith the Lord, though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow."