As a publishing company, we have the privilege of reading through manuscripts that others have written. Some of these manuscripts are quite good! But even so, we must always return and make sure that we are getting a good healthy dose of THE Book – the one true book that really matters. All wisdom, all stories, all sayings, everything we read must be measured not by whether we simply enjoy our time reading it, but rather it must be measured by whether it is TRUE and RIGHT. Does the wisdom we gain line up with what is actually true, according to the one who sets the standards for the Truth itself.
We publish great books (and I hope you’ll read some of them!), but our hope and prayer for all our readers is that they will always be getting a steady diet of the Bible, and using whatever else they are reading to strengthen their relationship with the Creator of all life, the Giver of all good things, and the Measure of what is True and Right.
Someone I was speaking with had a remarkable vision. I tried to recapture the essence of it, and I leave it here for your consideration. May God draw us all ever closer to Himself.
A man once had a vision. He found himself standing just outside the gates of a beautiful city. Most remarkably, Jesus himself was standing right next to him. At first the man though he had died and arrived at Heaven. However, Jesus reassured him that this was only a vision. Jesus said that he wanted the man to see the world as He sees it for a while. He invited the man to take a walk through the town, and then return to discuss what he found.
As the man walked through the village, he saw lots of people walking here and there, carrying on their lives. However, the people seemed very preoccupied with very small matters, rather than things that seemed more important. For example, one grocery shelf held loaves of bread. Some of the bread looked very good, while many others were all moldy. The clerk stocking the shelves was very busy making sure that all the bread was in neat rows. He didn’t seem to care at all that the majority of the bread should be thrown out and not there at all!
More curious than anything, everyone the man met was carrying around a Bible. “This certainly must be a very Christian town!” he thought to himself. However, the townspeople didn’t seem joyful to him at all. Many seemed frustrated, others depressed. He though he would let them know that their savior was standing just outside the gates. That would certainly bring them joy!
“Good people,” he exclaimed, “I have just come form outside the city gates, and Jesus himself is standing right there! Come and see him with me.” However, the people didn’t respond as he expected. They just rolled their eyes at the man and responded very sarcastically, “Oh, right, of course,” and went on with their business. One villager took the man aside to rebuke him for stirring the village up. The villager noted that there was indeed someone who would come into the village from time to time and claim to be Jesus, but this stranger was not to be trusted. The stranger was known to disrupt the town and try to make people act in ways that were ‘irresponsible’ and ‘not in keeping with the ways of God.’ The villager then opened his Bible to point out passages that demonstrated the ‘way of God’ to the man. To his utter astonishment, when the villager’s Bible was opened, the man noted that the pages were 90% covered in commentary, and the little scripture verses were all in small letters at the top of the pages, hardly legible. The villager pointed out sections of commentary to the man and suggested he needed to study more, and spend less time being ‘influenced by strangers.’
Dejected, and feeling quite judged, the man returned outside the village where Jesus was waiting. “What is the place?” the man wondered aloud.
“There are many who live in this village,” Jesus responded. “It is the place where they claim to be my disciples, and yet they do not know me. I give them a beautiful city, and good things to eat, and yet they busy themselves with things that are worthless. They all have my Words to read, and yet they quote themselves and pay attention to only their own traditions.”
Jesus continued, “I know everything that happens in this town. They have a reputation of being alive, but they are really still dead in their sins. They have not come to me, or I would have made them alive indeed. But even now there is hope. A little remains that could waken them to their condition. I come to them, and caution them to strengthen that which remains, hold fast, and repent. For I am going to return to the village again once more. But when I come I will put an end to it. Even as we speak, there are some in the village who are trying to waken the others. They have on my garments of righteousness, and they will walk with me, for they are worthy. Whoever overcomes, I will give them new clothing, and bring them to a better city, where they will live with me, my Father, and the angles. He that has an ear, let him hear.”