Mother and Son Reading Bible Together
This weekend my daughters, who are 11 and 7, and I were playing Categories. You know the game–it is when a person has to name a category and the participants go around and say the names of things in that particular category. One of us called the category “names of books in the Bible.” So, we start: Genesis. Exodus. Matthew. I Corinthians. Zechariah.
Mommy: Zechariah? (I said to my 7 year-old)
Daughter: Yes.
Mommy: I don’t think that is in the Bible. He is John the Baptist’s father, but there is no book by that name.
Daughter: Yes, it is.
Mommy: No. It is not. Did you mean Zephaniah?
Daughter: No. Zechariah.
She was emphatic, but we moved on. This morning, when I was doing my devotions, I opened my Bible to Zechariah. Ouch! Now, I must admit, I consider myself to be fairly biblically literate. I have a good working knowledge of the Bible. I am not as quick on quoting a scripture with an exact scripture reference, but I am fairly confident in my ability to find a biblical reference, topic, or person. Most certainly, I know the books of the Old and New Testamant, right? So, how could I not know there was a book in the Bible by the name of Zechariah? To be honest, other than knowing Malachi is the last book in the Old Testament, I have not spent much time with the minor prophets.
What is the moral of this exchange for me? Stay sharp! As disciples of Christ, we cannot become complacent in our study of the Word. If we are biblically literate, there are always more epiphanies and revelations for us to experience. It’s okay not to know the whole counsel of God, but its not okay to be comfortable with not knowing. The Apostle Peter encourages us to grow in grace and knowledge (2 Peter 3:18). With 66 books, there is always more important information to learn and re-learn about God, His Word and the things of God.
We must love God with not just our soul, but with our mind, too.
I love that my daughter was confident about her answer. She has motivated me to go find out more about the prophet Zechariah.
