Monday, March 10, 2014

Perfectly written

Our country has a dilemma.
We are suffering an editor shortage.
Not the dilemma you thought I might be referencing? Take heart, dear reader, I'm not about to go all political on you. The shortage I speak of is one that seems glaringly obvious given the grammar and spelling mistakes littering contemporary literature on the shelves of every Barnes and Noble and Ollie's Bargain Outlet. The pages are chock-full of incoherent sentences, misused words and incorrect punctuation.
But I don't blame the authors. Coming up with clever, original thought is not an easy task. The author can edit their own work to a certain extent but they will inevitably miss mistakes because they are so familiar with the text. After all, they penned it themselves. That is why all authors have at least one editor. Even I, on my little blog that is read by…I'm not sure who!…even I have my own personal editor. (Thank you, Mom). We still both miss mistakes that I'm sure leave my reader rolling their eyes, thinking, "shouldn't she have caught that?" I can't fault you for those thoughts. Every time I read anything at all I almost always am given the opportunity to think the same exact thing. The mistakes abound in every genre of writing. From "Letters to the Editor" to mystery novels to magazine articles on the latest food craze; they all are fraught with mistakes.
There is only one book that I have ever read that can be classified as an exception to this rule. The Bible.
Each morning I open my Bible and do my best to read it slowly, clearing my mind to take in each word as if for the first time. What I've noticed is that as I read and reread certain passages and sentences I am never rereading because the sentence structure is flawed or the author missed a preposition or goofed up the punctuation. No, there is never a single mistake in the writing. The only time I need to reread is when I need to rehear the truth so eloquently and purposefully set before me. My only cause for a double take is when I need to commit to memory the infallible truth of the scripture.
There is never a day that I will open my Bible and find a scripture that is faulty. I will never find mistakes. The Author of this book didn't make any mistakes. In His inspiring of the Bible He was not only the Author but also the Editor and Perfecter of the book. No second set of eyes were needed to check over His spelling or correct His punctuation, God has had the words written perfectly from the start. As Proverbs 30:5 says, "Every word of God is flawless…" The Holy Bible contains no defects in its language or message. The God-breathed words are utter perfection.

Out of all the books on my shelves at home, and trust me there are many, only one will never leave me lamenting an editor shortage. The Bible has no need for another trip through another proofread.
When I close my Bible I do so humbled, convicted and inspired because the words on its pages are absolutely perfect. Every parable, Proverb, Psalm and story has been written to draw me nearer to God, correct my sin, teach me how to live and give me hope for the future.
My Bible is perfect because God is perfect. No further editing needed.

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