Keep Digging (Bulletin Article for July 29)
To say our Vacation Bible School was a success would be an understatement. Our attendance was up from last year, and our teachers outdid themselves preparing and presenting lessons. Our decorators made our auditorium and bulletin boards fit the theme so well. The crafts were well-done, as were the refreshments. In a nutshell, the week went as well as could be expected. If you decided not to attend, whether you are a young person or an adult, you truly missed out on a rich experience.
Throughout the four days, we searched for “treasures” in God’s Word. We focused our attention on four stories from the life of Christ that taught us how Jesus could see beyond what man sees. Jesus can see the hearts of all people. He saw the potential in Peter, Andrew, James and John. He saw the love in the sinful woman. He knew that every race, including Samaritans, could and would do good things. He knew the background of the poor widow who gave two mites.
Most of us know those stories well, but, in our VBS we were able to “unearth” some new discoveries from these stories. No matter how often we study even very familiar stories, there is more to be learned. There is a new perspective, or an historical angle we have not seen before.
Doesn’t that tell us something of the One Who wrote these stories? God, by inspiring men such as Moses, David, Matthew and Paul, gave us a very simple story. The Bible teaches us about man’s sin and God’s love. It continues by teaching us how God’s love leads Him to want to save sinful man through His Son, Jesus Christ. That’s a simple story.
But, “buried beneath the surface,” there are other treasures to be found. Some passages of Scripture are harder to understand. It could be that I don’t understand poetic language very well, so I have to work hard to understand Psalms or some of the prophets. Maybe I’m not a history “buff,” so I have trouble figuring out some of the royal ceremonies in the Old Testament. It could even be that I just have trouble understanding concepts like love and forgiveness because I’ve never been shown those things by others.
Sadly, though, for many, we don’t understand because we fail to study as we should. A week like VBS should cause us all to think about reading and studying God’s Word more. There are many more treasures, more precious than gold, to be found. Will you keep digging?
