The Jeweller’s Shop

In the last couple of weeks I’ve discovered Faithful Bloggers.  If you’re looking for Christians in the blogasphere, their directory would be a good place to go to find them, and they were the ones who prompted this post.  They asked:  “If you had to recommend only one book of the Bible for a person to read, which book would you recommend and why?”

 

Any guesses?

 

Well, despite having heard it said in the past:  “If you’re introducing people to the Bible, don’t tell them to start with …” I’m still going to recommend it:  The gospel of John.  At my primary school, the head-teacher would always read the first part of chapter 1 at our carol services; it was foreign to me.  So maybe start with chapter 2 and read the first one later?  🙂

 

To me John is a bit like a jeweller’s shop, full of all the gems of the Christian life.  You can read how Jesus spoke powerfully into the lives of those others had given up on:  The woman at the well, an outcast in her community; the woman caught in an extramarital affair, whom the religious leaders were ready to stone to death; the blind man, whose life before had consisted of begging by the roadside.

 

And it’s not just the things that happen on the surface.  We can go deeper than that and find some of the basic principles of Christianity:  This whole thing of being born again, burying the old and embracing the new; Jesus’ reassurance about the heavenly place He’s preparing for His people … and then my favourite – love for God and love for each other.  Jesus showed His love for God, making it clear He only did what He saw His Father doing, and Jesus showed His disciples the full measure of His love when He washed their feet before that last meal He ate with them.  Can you comprehend that?  The God who made the whole universe – without Him nothing was made that has been made, and He leaves the majesty of heaven for such a menial task?  No service was beneath Him, and He asks us to follow His example:  “Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them”.  He said:  “The greatest love a person can show is to die for his friends”, and before sacrificing His own life, He told us:  “Love each other as I have loved you”.

 

Need I say more?  But I don’t think this has a right or wrong answer, so let me ask you the same question.  Which book of the Bible would you recommend and why?  If this inspires you to write a post of your own, please share the link in the comments.  I’d love to read it.