Puzzles and the Bible

Sometimes understanding the Bible can be like working a jigsaw puzzle. When you first start that puzzle it’s hard to get a clear and complete understanding of it. The more pieces you connect the clearer it becomes and the easier it gets.

Growing up during the Christmas season my mother would put a big puzzle out on the table and we would work on it from time to time all week long. It was a great family activity.

Usually you do the easy pieces first… the corners and the straight edge pieces… those are the easiest ones, but then it tends to get more complicated before it gets easier again.

I see my grandkids putting puzzles together and sometimes they can force two pieces together that don’t really belong.

Sometimes when you’re putting a big 10,000 piece puzzle together it seems like an impossible task and you just give up and walk away.

Sometimes the cat knocks all the pieces off the table.

Of course it always helps to look at the picture on the front of the box to help figure it out.

As the puzzle got more complete and there were just a few pieces left we would race to see who would finish it first (sometimes we would hide a piece so we could put the last piece in).

Bible study can be kind of like working those old puzzles. It always helps to have a picture to understand where all the Bible pieces fit together. The picture that helps me is what Jesus said are the two greatest commands… to love God with all your heart… and your neighbor as yourself. If that’s not what the final product looks like then you haven’t put the pieces together correctly.

Sometimes people have a picture in mind (that isn’t correct) and try to make all the pieces fit that picture. That’s kind of like my grandkids forcing two pieces together that don’t belong.

Some people try to minimize the Old Testament in the picture and make the picture all about the New Testament… big mistake… huge mistake.

Some people just think it’s too complicated and give up too easy. Remember… it is just one book and you have a lifetime to put it all together and the more pieces you successfully put together the easier it becomes. If it seems too hard take a break and come back to it.

Understanding the Bible becomes easier when you have some friends to help you… just like a puzzle. It builds community.

At home when we would complete a puzzle we would feel a real sense of accomplishment and leave it out for a few days just to look at it and remember the work we had put into it, but then we would take it apart, box it up and put it up in a closet where it never left.

That’s the big difference between working out a puzzle and figuring out the Bible. Once we have that Bible figured out it stays figured out in our hearts forever and we can help the new Christian figure out how all the pieces fit together to get a true picture of God… and then rejoice together at the accomplishment.