Well, I can’t completely blame the toys. After all, I did take them all apart almost as soon as I got them. That may have had something to do with their low functionality. I mean, how accurately can a 10 year old reassemble a Talkboy?
I was just so curious. I wanted, nay, needed to know how everything worked. I would take a toy apart, make sense of what I could understand, and put it back together to the best of my ability. Occasionally, I would experiment with the toys and see if I could improve or even alter the way the toy worked. I was so eager to understand everything that I was willing to risk having nothing to play with.
Sometimes I still feel that way. As I read through the Bible, I occasionally come out with more questions than answers. I want to know more. I want to know how, when, where, and why things happened the way they did. I want to know what Jesus did when He was a child. I want to know more about His sense of humor and how He related to His friends. I want to know more about how my life can reflect His.
The fact that we don’t know more about Jesus’ life has often been a point of frustration for me. Some aspects of His life are recorded with amazing accuracy and other parts are inexplicably vague. Why could the writers not be more consistent? Were these really the only things they saw as important? Would the things they chose to leave out change the way we live out our faith?
Of course the answers to those questions would do very little to sooth my inquisitive mind, but at least I would have more answers about why I don’t have more answers. I would be more able to articulate why there is so much of Jesus’ life we know little about. I may be more content to know that I am not missing out on anything important.
There is one passage in the Bible, actually, that does give me a little comfort in this area.
Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written. (John 21:25 NIV)
I suppose that answers my questions to some degree. The writers were not more consistent because they couldn’t possibly record every detail. Also, I believe this makes it safe to assume that anything left out would not change the path of our spiritual journeys.
As John seems well aware of the numerous other details of Jesus’ life, he clearly chose to share stories that are very much in-line with the other gospels. That tells me that these stories are the core of who Jesus is, and our imitation of His life should find its foundation in them.
While I fear my burning curiosity may be a permanent condition, it is very comforting to know that God orchestrated the Bible in such a way that its teachings meet His standards for what I need to know about Him. Now, if I can only use it to help me get closer to His standards, then I’ll be in business.