This post by kathylarkman was originally published at GRACE PLACE
Christine Coltman, contributor for today’s blog post
I’ve always been one of those odd people that would turn more naturally to the Old Testament than to the new. I don’t know whether it was my upbringing in the Church of Scotland, or just an inbuilt inclination. Although I have always been a Christian, I was very much a rules-based Christian in my younger years. I knew Jesus, and I knew he had died for me, but I definitely wanted to tick all the boxes, and probably not always for the right reasons. I was much more comfortable talking about God the Father than Christ the Saviour.
This has changed since I came to Corsham Baptist almost ten years ago, and I am so glad for it. The focus has always been on Jesus in the teaching, and in the friendships God has blessed me with. The songs that I love most are about Jesus, and I have learned so much from studying Titus in the women’s bible study evenings.
But God always wants to take us a step further and I was challenged last week by a sermon which reminded me that the whole of the Bible is about Jesus. Every book, whether Old or New Testament, points to him. It was something that I had not fully thought through before. I had been speaking with a friend about the book of Job the night before, trying to help her understand it, and I realised that not once had I mentioned Jesus. It prompted me to apologise to her, and to share the sermon. Job was of course the first signpost of Scripture to the cross.
I’m so grateful for the way that God walks with us on our journey of faith. I’ve often found it hard that there was no ‘blinding light’ moment of conversion in my life. I was brought up in a good church, I remember asking Jesus into my heart as a small child, and the journey has gone on from there. I have so much to be grateful for yet sometimes I find it hard to distinguish between my ‘old’ life and the ‘new’. Yet there have definitely been so many seasons for me, and I’m excited that this one is leading in the right direction – straight to Jesus.
So, if you’re talking about the Bible with me and I don’t mention Jesus, please prompt me! I don’t want to know all the facts and yet forget the real reason we’re here – to be in, and grow in relationship with him.
‘I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth… How my heart yearns within me.’ Job 19:25-27