Many people didn’t enjoy lessons at school because they felt what they had to learn was irrelevant to life – most of us don’t use algebra or trigonometry every day, don’t need to know historical dates and can’t see the point of being able to conjugate verbs in Latin… These facts are all useful, but unless we see their relevance to our everyday lives, we tend to switch off.
The same can apply to our attitude to the Bible: it contains interesting facts, but what’s the relevance to our everyday lives? The Bible is not just a historical book of facts, however. Moses wanted the Israelites to celebrate the Passover on an annual basis so that every generation would know how God had intervened personally and miraculously in their lives in delivering them from Egypt. (Ex 13:3-8) Similarly, Paul prays that the Ephesians will have the eyes of their heart enlightened – an ‘inner illumination of the spirit’, as J. B. Phillips puts it – so that they may know certain things which then have a huge impact on their everyday lives. (Eph 1:17-23)
Hope, a knowledge of the riches of God’s glorious inheritance in the saints and experience of God’s incomparably great power for us who believe (Eph 1:17-23) are not simply academic facts which inform us. They are spiritual truths with the capacity to transform us. They are blessings which have the power to help us to live life with confidence, perseverance, joy and endurance. But it matters that our eyes are opened to get it!
