Mutiny on the Bounty – Have You Ever Lost Your Bible? Handfuls of Purpose–“And let fall also [some] handfuls of purpose.” – Ruth 2:16 Devotions on Living the Deeper Christian Life “Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.” – Mark 13:31 One of the most dramatic examples of the Bible’s divine ability to transform men and women involved the famous, “Mutiny on the Bounty.” Following their rebellion against the notorious Captain Bligh, nine mutineers, along with the Tahitian men and women who accompanied them, found their way to Pitcairn Island. The island, a tiny dot in the South Pacific, was only two miles long and a mile wide. Ten years later, drink and fighting had left only one man alive–John Adams. Eleven women and 23 children made up the rest of the Island’s population. This, so far, is the familiar story made famous in the book and motion picture. But the rest of the story is even more remarkable. About this time, Adams came across the “Bounty’s” Bible in the bottom of an old chest. He began to read it, and the divine power of God’s Word reached into the heart of the hardened murderer on that tiny volcanic speck in the vast Pacific Ocean, and changed his life forever. The peace and love that Adams found in the Bible entirely replaced the old life of quarreling, brawling, and liquor. He began to teach the children from the Bible until every person on the island had experienced the same amazing change that he had found. Today, with a population of slightly less than 100, nearly every person on Pitcairn Island is a Christian. Kierkegaard said that most of us read the Bible the way a mouse tries to remove the cheese from the trap without getting caught. Some of us have mastered that. We read the story as though it were about someone else a long time ago; that way we don’t get caught. But if we see the Bible as the story of the triumph of God’s grace, the story of God searching for us, then look out. The story will come alive. God will find us and we will know that we are found. Words to Think About… –ON BIBLE STUDY– “I study my Bible like I gather apples. First, I shake the whole tree that the ripest may fall. Then I shake each limb, and when I have shaken each limb, I shake each branch and every twig. Then I look under every leaf. I search the Bible as a whole like shaking the whole tree. Then I shake every limb–study book after book. Then I shake every branch, giving attention to the chapters. Then I shake every twig, or a careful study of the paragraphs and sentences and words and their meanings.” – Martin Luther “If You see a Bible that is falling apart, it probably belongs to someone who isn’t!” – Vance Havner
Posted on: Tue, 04 Feb 2014 22:15:17 +0000
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