When I was young, my mother would take me and my siblings to our local library. Our weekly trip to the Spring Hill Public Library was one of my favorite days of the week. We would go on days where they would do a story time or activity for children. Some days we went they would have special people come in and do presentations. I remember one day, there was a magician who came and performed. On Dr. Suess day, they had someone who dressed up as the Cat in the Hat while they read us classics like Green Eggs and Ham, or One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish.On one occasion, they had a gentleman come in who had written fun songs that educated kids on basic things about the brain, what some of the different areas are, and what they do. Other days we might go to the Children’s Library section and look at the books while sitting in the castle fort. At the Library, there was a puzzle section and a train station where I would pretend to be a train conductor. There were even some computers over in the corner where I would go play fun problem-solving games. Games that required me to think critically about the problem at hand and the best way to solve it.
When I got to high school, I didn’t spend much time in the children’s portion of the library. Rarely did I ever spend time in the library, unless it was to study with friends outside of school. As I go through college, I find myself, again spending my days in the library. Throughout my life, the library has been a central area of learning and spending time with friends.
Growing up going to the library, I got to read a lot of stories. Even with the library duplicates of books, I would never be able to read all of the books in that library. At least not easily or in a short period of time. When I think of my university library, while it’s one of the smaller university libraries, I still would not be able to read all of the books there within my 4-year stay. There are simply too many for me to check out and read and still do school, work a job, hang out with friends, maintain a healthy relationship, and have time for my favorite hobby, sleeping.
One of the best stories that we have available to us every day, is the story of God’s people and His story of the world and the church which we call the Bible. The Bible is the best literary piece ever known to the world. With things from war and kings to love and romance, the Bible has it all. The best story known to man is the story of Jesus. His life and what we know about it is beautiful.
Jesus went around preaching and teaching to all those who would be receptive to his words. He taught others compassion, what true discipleship looks like, what being a leader looks like, he taught how to have compassion, he taught how to love, not just to love in the easy times, but also how to love someone and correct them at the same time. His teachings were radical for their time and shocking to the culture. His disciples who carried His teachings to others had it said of them that they were turning the world upside down. (Acts 17:6) Jesus’ story and His life is the greatest story we will ever get to experience.
My favorite of the 4 Gospels of Jesus is the book of John. I love the way it shows who Jesus was and what He did. It starts by telling us that He is God and He was in the beginning with God. It starts His story by boasting about His power and Majesty telling us “That all things were created through him, and without Him was not anything made that was made.” (John 1:3) It ends with the sacrifice that He made for us, and His resurrection. Making Him the only one to conquer death. It is a powerful account of Jesus and His life.
One passage of John that I had never noticed, and perhaps it slipped under your notice as well, is John chapter 21 verse 25. We get to the end of the Gospels, Jesus has risen, death has been defeated, and we see that John has the task of wrapping up the gospels. How do you even do such a thing? After everything that has just taken place, what could even be said in closing to allow such an amazing life to sit on the reader’s mind? Then out of nowhere, John drops verse 25 on us.
“Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.”
Imagine such a thought. The world itself could not contain the books that could be written. What an amazing thought. The Library of Congress itself has over 173 million items including 53 million books, the ministers here have at minimum 3,451 books combined, and in the world, there is an estimated 155 million books! However, none of that even comes close to the amount that could be written about our Savior and our God. We serve an amazing God! I pray we never forget how fortunate we are to be able to approach His throne today, and every Lord’s Day to offer him our praise.