Happy Birthday, Bilbo and Frodo!

In Proverbs chapter 8, in the personification of wisdom, we read:
17 I love those who love me, And those who seek me diligently will find me. 18 Riches and honor are with me, Enduring riches and righteousness. 19 My fruit is better than gold, yes, than fine gold, And my revenue than choice silver. 20 I traverse the way of righteousness, In the midst of the paths of justice,
There is a massive search for meaning in this world today - and unfortunately people, in their quest for deeper understanding, encounter teachings that are not consistent with Scripture and the God of the Bible.   It's important that we make knowledge of the One true God and growth in our relationship with Him paramount in our lives.   His Word teaches us about Himself, and by knowing and growing in His Word, we can understand the world around us, discover how we fit in, if you will, or better said, how God desires to use us in this world for His glory.   And, that comes as we diligently seek Him and walk with an awareness of His presence and His principles.

J.R.R. Tolkien is quoted as saying:  "There is nothing like looking, if you want to find something. You certainly usually find something, if you look, but it is not always quite the something you were after."

In Matthew 7, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teachers:7 "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.   Last Saturday, September 22nd was an important day in the Shire, part of Tolkien's incredible fantasy world:  it was Bilbo Baggins birthday, as well as his nephew Frodo's.   And, Bilbo is featured in the book, The Hobbit, which celebrated its 75th anniversary last Friday.    Tolkien was a British professor who wrote the book for his four children.  It was published in 1937.  USA Today summarizes it as the story of how a stay-at-home hobbit very fond of hearth and home ends up venturing forth with 13 dwarves and a wizard named Gandalf to retrieve treasure stolen by a savage dragon. The prelude to The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Hobbit has been translated in to more than 50 languages and has sold 100 million copies worldwide.  The movie The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will be arriving in theaters on Dec. 14.  Tolkien was a Christian, and while you have to admit this book and the Lord of the Rings trilogy might not be as allegorical as some of C.S. Lewis' works, author and professor Devin Brown of Asbury Theological Seminary quotes Tolkien as saying that “The religious element is absorbed into the story."  In an interview for the Tolkien Society website, Brown says that:  The providence, purpose, and morality in The Hobbit go against the grain of the modern mindset.  In The Hobbit, Tolkien brings his readers into a world filled with meaning and purpose where they find clear contrasts between right and wrong.  The same audience who might scoff at the Christian worldview in a different context, find themselves embracing it in The Hobbit.
He also says in the interview that, "he main purpose of Tolkien’s stories of imaginary beings in an imaginary world is to provide a better understanding of our world and the real beings who inhabit it."
 Tolkien was someone who was intent on helping readers to understand to gain wisdom, and he communicates spiritual principles in the activities of his characters in The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy.   His journey, and you might say for the residents of the Shire, was for something deeper, something more, even beyond the world of the senses, what you can feel or see.    And, isn't that our appointed quest as believers in Christ?   I do believe that God wants to show us great and mighty things, to give us insight into the operation of this world, and to discover a supernatural element that gives us a greater awareness of His presence.   If we seek, Jesus said, we will find.  Once we accept the existence of God and absolute truth, then as we travel down that path, we will have a greater depth of understanding, so that we might live our lives for His glory.   There's more to life than the temporal - there's a supernatural realm in which the Lord desires to walk with us.