I just finished a great book. “The Blue Parakeet” by Scot McKnight. Released last year, this book talks about how we tame the life out of the challenging sections of the Bible and fail to acknowledge that we all adapt and apply what we read in the Scriptures. I mean, when was the last time you saw a parent bring their children to the elders of the city and have them stoned for disobedience? That’s in Deuteronomy. Seen women avoid doing their hear or wearing jewelry to a church service? Check 1 Corinthians. God commands people across both Old and New Testaments, “Do not be afraid.” Yet most of us screw that up. Jesus said, “Do not worry about what you are going to wear.” I wish the guy who I saw last week in grey dress pants with blue (not navy blue – but blue blue) socks and black dress shoes had read that one.

I think many of us treat the Bible like its something for us to rule over or master, rather than allowing it to be something that rules over or masters us. Many people who claim to follow Jesus seem to long for answers, living life terrified of unresolved questions. But life doesn’t always resolve so well. So why should the Bible be any different?

In his book, Spirituality for Ministry, Urban T. Holmes writes that “It is true that poetry raises more questions than it has answers for, but this is what we should expect from the Scriptures. Read as poetry they draw us ever deeper into the mystery of who God is.” I think we struggle with God being mysterious. Yes, I know mystery is dying in our world today. If I want to figure out who someone is, then Google, Wikipedia, Twitter and Facebook all kill the mystery before I meet the person. I have friends who routintely Google people before first dates or meetings, taking the mystery out of the process of getting to know someone. (I do think this may be a good thing for some creepsters or less than integrous characters, along with setting you up to be in the know before an interview or networking session).

But, I think we long for power and control, instead of embracing mystery and vulnerability. Most of us are terrified of the latter and feel compelled to the former in the face of our fears. As I have said repeatedly in different contexts this year, fear drives us in ways that we struggle to recognize and the Scriptures are very clear with story after story about men and women who were not used by God because they could not overcome their fear.

Henri Nouwen astutely observed, “The temptation to power is greatest when intimacy is perceived as a threat.” When we are scared of what the Bible might reveal about us or what it might allow others to see that we do not want to be known, we treat it the same as a spouse, friend, family member or co-worker; we resort to manipulating it, ruling it, and taming the life out of it to protect ourselves.

Maybe its time to stop taming and start allowing ourselves to move somewhere different and become something new.