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But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work. (vv. 3:14-17)

A minister was visiting in the home of a woman and the conversation turned to a discussion of the Bible as the guidebook for faith and Christian living. Wanting to impress the preacher, the woman stopped her young son who was passing through the living room and said, "Darling, go into Mama's room and bring me the book that you see Mama reading all the time -- that book Mama loves so much."

The small boy ran off dutifully and returned a few minutes later with the Sears & Roebuck catalogue.

We all love the Bible, don't we? That's why the Bible sits atop the bestseller list year after year. A Library of Congress survey asked the question, "What book has most influenced your life?" The number one answer was, "The Bible."

This is good news! We buy Bibles and readily admit they influence our lives. However, balancing this good news is some not-so-good news. Even though we buy Bibles and say that scripture is influential in our lives, too many Christians aren't biblically literate. Are you comfortable with your knowledge of the Bible?

A newspaper article (Daily Oklahoman, April 7, 2001) reported on a Bible trivia contest done by Jay Leno with his Tonight Show audience. Leno asked, "Name one of the Ten Commandments"

The response came, "God helps those who help themselves?"

Leno asked, "Name one of the apostles." No one could. But when he asked the crowd to name the Beatles, the answers were ringing through the crowd: John, Paul, George, and Ringo. Now, to be fair, this was not necessarily a Christian crowd. After all, this was not a congregation -- it was a studio audience. We would have the right answers in our church. Right?

A minister asked a children's Sunday school class, "Who broke down the wall of Jericho?" A boy responded, "It wasn't me!"

The pastor was noticeably upset, and turned to his teacher and said, "Can you believe this?"

The teacher replied, "Pastor, the boy is honest and trustworthy -- if he said he didn't do it, then he didn't do it." The shocked minister then went to the Sunday school superintendent.

She listened intently to the pastor and then tried to console him by saying, "I've known the boy and his Sunday school teacher for a number of years, and I just can't picture either one involved with the incident."

In disbelief, the pastor sought out the administrative council chair. He tried to smooth out the damage with common sense, "Pastor, let's not make a big issue of this. Let's just pay for the damages to the wall and charge it to the trustees."

This, of course, is a joke. But in my experience, reality is not much different. A few years back, my wife, Hadley, worked with the youth at our church. She was preparing for a Family Feud-type game by calling various church members and asking basic Bible trivia questions. She called the pastor-parish chair -- a lifelong Methodist who had been a Christian for 25 years. She asked, "Name a book in the Bible that tells of the birth of Jesus."

He responded, "Uh, you'd better ask my wife that one. She's the one who knows that kind of stuff."

This was a key church leader who didn't know where to find the Christmas story! For the record, Matthew and Luke are the two gospels that record Jesus' birth.

Obviously, this casual acquaintance with the Bible is not what Paul had in mind when he wrote to Timothy. He wrote, "Continue in what you have learned and firmly believed ... how from childhood you have known the sacred writings." Timothy had learned scripture from his mother and grandmother. Paul knew that the Bible was an instruction manual -- a wealth of knowledge of God's love and saving grace -- that would give Timothy his grounding in life.

God has given us a 66-book testimony of love and forgiveness that culminates in Jesus Christ. God inspired the scripture to teach us the right way to live, keep us within that will, and bring us back when we stray. As we encounter God's Word, may we have a renewed passion for God's breathing of Holy Scripture for us so that we may be equipped for righteousness and good works.