Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Butterfly, botanist or bee?

John MacAuthur, Why Believe the Bible?

An old but graphic illustration tells of a man who looked out of his window at a beautiful garden full of plants and flowers. First, he saw a lovely butterfly, which would flutter from flower to flower, pausing only for a second or two before moving on. It touched many of the lovely blossoms but derived no benefit from them.

Next, he spotted a botanist, with a big notebook under his arm and a large magnifying glass in his hand. The botanist would hunch over one flower for a long time, peering at it through his magnifying glass in his pocket and walked away.

The third visitor to the flower garden was a tiny bee. The bee would light on a flower and sink down deep, extracting all the nectar it could carry. On each visit to a flower it went empty and came out full.

And so it is with Christians in their approach to God's Word. There are butterflies who move from stirring sermons to stirring sermons, from Bible class to Bible class, fluttering here, fluttering there, bringing nothing and gaining nothing but a nice feeling. And there are the spiritual botanists who take copious notes. They are trying to get everything straight - from each vowel point to each point in the outline. They go over the words but don't draw much out of the flowers. It's all pure academics.

And then there are the people who are like spiritual bees. They sink down deep into every flower, every book or page of the Scripture they come upon, and draw out the wisdom and truth and life that can be a blessing to them and those around them.

You? Butterfly, botanist or bee?