September 23

Malachi 2:10-4:6; Joel 1:1-3:21

How would you summarize the Bible in a sentence? We are about to finish up the Old Testament, but how would you explain the Bible succinctly to someone who did not know what it says?

Malachi and Joel help us to summarize the contents of the whole Bible. They express God’s desire for us to find life in him, but our continual pursuit of things outside of him (idols). True life is only found in God, but we so often settle for inferior substitutes. Yet God is willing to do anything to get our attention to bring us to him. He sends prophets, locusts (book of Joel), suffering, and ultimately his Son that we might receive the life he offers by grace through faith. All who come to Jesus in faith can find this life, while the alternative is to reject it and reap judgment. We can experience the new wine and abundance of God’s kingdom, or if we live apart from him, we will experience the desolation and “desert waste” (Joel 2:3).

Father God, help me to seek life in you and only you. Help me to turn away from all other substitutes and, in doing so, experience you. Amen. 

How would you summarize what the Bible is about in a sentence or two?

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