Where Do I Begin?
How many times have you started a Bible reading plan only to get stuck in an obscure passage with little hope of seeing your way through it? For many, it’s at that point that they either stop reading or at the least they start to sputter. And the sputtering really looks like reading less and less, and finding other things to distract the time.
I am convinced that one of the main reasons why get stuck in reading our Bibles is that we don’t really know how the Bible is a connected unity. Let me explain, if you grew up in the church, then odds are you know a little about a lot of stories in the Bible. For instance, you probably know that Jonah was a reluctant prophet who got swallowed by some fish. And when you read through Jonah without connecting it to the larger reality that Jonah’s heart is just like our heart, his hatred is just like our hatred, and his enemies are actually like us (Gentiles) who need a Savior, you find it easy to skim through it.
A Method…
What if there was a way–a method–to approach reading your Bible that actually guided you along? What would it take to inspire you to this? Above is a simple guide–it’s a bicycle–that has 5 touch points. Each touch point is critical, and are simply 5 questions that ask something about the book you’re reading. Questions 1–3 will only be answered on the front-end of your reading a book of the Bible, and that will set the stage for questions 4–5. This bicycle illustration fits well as it pertains to our own Bible reading journey. Think about a bike ride for a second. How many times have you tried to ride without both hands on the handle bars–or only one hand? What about riding without sitting down on the seat? And we know what would happen if our feet weren’t on the pedals. The reality is, we can only go so far riding a bike without having all 5 touch points intact and moving us forward. In the same way, if you only answer “what” the book is about without the “why” you’re just become smart about the Bible but are not affected by the Bible. Similarly, if you only answer “how a book applied to the original audience”, but do not answer “how does it apply to me”, you’ll just be another contextually correct Bible reader without life-transformation.
Life Transformation
This is why we read the Bible: to know God, to love God, and to be more conformed into the image of God and His Son, Jesus. This happens because we read, and we read because we know more and more about God, His character, and how He communicated His plan of redemption through these 66 books we call the Bible.
So, Where Do I Begin To Answer These Questions?
There is an outfit called The Bible Project who have put together Bible book summaries that are not only clear, concise, but are also only 5-7 minute videos long each. You will be able to answer questions 1-3 above simply by clicking through The Bible Project website and watching the brief video on a book that you are reading. It’s simply incredible, and I believe that as you answer these simple questions you will find your time in the Word of God not only enjoyable, but life-changing. Here’s an example on Jonah…
May we together, journey through our days on our journey with the Word of God, so that our lives and our affections are more and more bent toward His! Amen!
For more interesting data points on Bible reading and the like, click HERE and HERE.— February 10, 2017