Knowing The Author

There are a few books that I’ve read that have truly impacted the trajectory of my life. After reading one of them, I decided I wanted to meet the author. He was speaking at a writer’s conference, so I bought a ticket, booked a plane, got a hotel room and went to meet him. Just as his meet and greet was to begin, he got a call that took up his whole time. I was determined, so a year or so later, I flew to the city where his church is so I could attempt again. I did finally meet him. By then I had read his book a couple of times and did life group studies with it to help change their lives too. Another person from that group and I went to another conference. There we heard a speaker who gave out his book for free to the audience. I was reading it on a flight and it impacted me to the point of tears. I searched for him, found his email and sent him a message. Five minutes later, he responded.

Books are amazing and have the power to help us. The Bible is the greatest book of them all. However, it is not greater than it’s author. In John 5, Jesus was confronted by some Jewish elders who had spent a lifetime studying the Scriptures, yet they failed to know its author. They didn’t recognize Jesus as His son either and plotted to kill Him. Jesus began telling them about the author and how He knew Him. In verse 39, Jesus said, “You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me!” (NLT). God’s Word is infallible and will last forever, but it is Jesus who gives eternal life. He is the One to whom they point and is the fulfillment of them.

Paul, who was also a Jewish leader, studied the Scriptures endlessly. In Philippians 3 he shared how much he studied them and how strictly he adhered to them, but failed to know the author. He said that he counted all that other stuff as valuable until he met Jesus. Then in verse 8 he wrote, “Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ.” We can spend a lifetime studying Scripture and miss the point that the author wants to meet us and know us. Jesus doesn’t just change our life, He gives us life because He is life. We should study the Bible and let it change how we live, but it’s pointless unless you get to know the Author of Life.

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