LETTING THE BIBLE CHANGE YOUR LIFE
Happy New Year, friends! I want to start our Waybread year by building upon something I spoke about in my Advent message a few weeks ago. I want to talk about how to read the Bible in a way that will help you do more than just check off an item on your spiritual to-do list, it will lead you into lasting vitality, healing, growth, and transformation, and who doesn't want that?
Bible reading all by itself will likely not change you. It all depends on the heart, mind, and soul you bring to your reading of the Bible. Otherwise, reading the Bible is essentially no different than reading Moby Dick or The Lord of the Rings. Or the newspaper. Or even a comic book.
So much of the Christian life isn't so much making anything happen as it is putting yourself in a position where Christ can get at you.
I tell you what–the most lasting changes to my inner self have consistently happened because I've either accidentally or on purpose found myself in a position to receive fresh grace from God to accomplish those things. I say "accidentally or on purpose" because very often God changes me when I'm not looking for it. I get sick or have an argument with somebody or don't have enough money to pay the insurance bill or just feel overwhelmed by how much I have to do and how inadequate I feel to do it. But at one time or another, God has used every one of those circumstances to speak healing and transformation into my life. But it didn't happen magically or without my permission. It happened because even while I was going through those things God spoke to me through His word and helped me approach them differently than I would have without His word.
The bottom line is that the single most important factor in my own healing and transformation over the years has been regular, consistent time in the Word. And most of the time I don't hear anything especially helpful or relevant or profound. But I've learned to keep at it, regardless. Because ultimately, I don't spend time in God's Word to find answers to problems or help with a difficult relationship; I go to His Word to learn who He is and how He works and what His love looks like in the lives of other people all down through the centuries.
So my understanding of the love and the character of God shapes who I am and how I think and what I dream about and long for. And then when life throws unexpected junk my way, I handle it differently not because I have better techniques but because I'm a different man than I used to be. Granted, I don't always, or even often, "get it." I very often feel like God speaks to me like Jesus spoke to the disciples on the road to Emmaus: "How foolish you are and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken."
But the most important thing about me, I think, is that I daily spend time in God's word whether I come away feeling enriched and blessed or feeling like I've just started the day by doing the next right thing.
You can't over-estimate the importance of simply putting yourself in a position to hear from God and learn about God.
So, as I said in my Advent message a few weeks ago, Eugene Peterson recommended reading the Bible: Slowly. Imaginatively. Prayerfully. Obediently. Let's take a quick look at how we can do all four.
Slowly. Nobody realizes how quickly our minds begin looking for new stimulation these days. In her studies, Dr. Gloria Mark found that in 2004, we could focus on a screen for an average of 150 seconds. By 2012 we could only focus for 75 seconds. And by 2020, our attention had fallen to an average of 47 seconds. This is for ALL of us, not just "the younger generation." We begin to get a little uncomfortable, a little impatient after less than a minute. Just think about what this means for our ability to focus on our Bibles, and even more so when we use a Bible app on our phones. Think about how impatient you've gotten with reading in general. In order to be done well (that is, in order to consider, imagine, reflect, and think critically), reading has to be done slowly. More than that, we likely need to read a passage two or three times to allow its various meanings and implications to soak into our minds and hearts.
In order to make up for our impulsive need to re-stimulate ourselves, try this with your Bible reading. Read shorter passages, maybe just a chapter or a part of a chapter. Focus on pronouncing every word, even if it means reading it quietly out loud (don't study each word, just don't rush through the passage). Or take a passage that interests you and read it two or three times and pay attention to different details each time through. A great way to do this is called Lectio Divina or "divine reading." Click the link to check it out. Slow is good!
Imaginatively. One of the best ways to get into a passage and past the words alone is to immerse yourself as best you can in the actual scene you're reading about. Whenever Pastor Doug used to talk about reading the Bible, he would encourage us to use our imaginations. How big were the crowds? What did they sound like? What were the smells? of people? of food? of clothing? of fish? of incense? What did the dirt, sand, water feel like? How hot (or cold) was it? You get the idea. And the more you enter that world yourself, the more you can also begin to imagine: What would my reaction likely have been? What would I have said? Anything? Would I more likely be one of those clamoring after Jesus? Or would I be standoff-ish, not wanting to be taken in or misled? Would I have obeyed–or delayed?
To enter into Scripture this way helps us read the Bible not only with our heads but with our hearts and our senses. After all, Jesus' command is that we love the Lord with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength. Surely, loving the Lord requires bringing all that we are to our following of Him–and our reading of His Word. And no, we're not talking about reading into the Scriptures anything that's not there. We're just taking seriously what the stories and the lives that the words are inviting us into.
Prayerfully. One of the most common complaints I hear from people when we talk about prayer is that they so often feel like they can't find the right words to use in their prayers. They wish their prayers were more polished or eloquent. But I think God just wants us to be honest–with ourselves and with Him. Are we ever put off because our children say, "I would very much like to attend a Tigers game this summer, Father. Might there be a chance for us to secure tickets to an upcoming game?" Not at all! It's not formal language or words our father wants to hear, it's our desire and our excitement, the authenticity of our request!
I use the Book of Common Prayer (BCP) to direct my daily Bible Reading. It keeps me in the Psalms, the Old Testament, the New Testament letters, and the Gospels every day, and I wind up reading through the Bible in two years without skipping over the "boring" parts or focusing only on my favorite books. But I also like the BCP because it's filled with prayers for nearly every occasion imaginable. The beauty and eloquence of many of these prayers help lift my heart and mind into more heartfelt devotion, but they never take the place of the real longing to speak honestly to the Father and to hear clearly from Him.
But on a day by day basis, the best advice I have for reading the Bible prayerfully is to actually make the verses you're reading your prayer. For example, imagine you've just read Psalm 19, which speaks beautifully about God's law (go ahead, go read it and then come back–I'll wait!). Look at v. 7: "The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the decrees of the Lord are sure, making wise the simple…." Can you find a way to turn this into prayer? How about starting with something like, "Lord, I'm feeling kind of dry, like I'm just going through the motions. I'm tired. [Now, be specific about why you're feeling this way.] You say that Your word 'revives' my soul–I need that, Lord! Refresh my spirit and my body so that I can live and love as You would have me to do today. Help me, too, not to lean on my own efforts or energy or understanding, but to be wise in all my dealings."
There's no wrong way to do this because you're just letting God's Word give expression to what's already going on in your heart and life. Go ahead, dive in!
Obediently. I think obedience gets a bad rap these days. Most of the time, what we hear in the word "obedience" is duty, grunt work, following orders, and drudgery. There are certainly elements of truth to that, at least at times, but I think we would be far better served to have the word redeemed for us–to exchange it for a higher, richer, deeper meaning. For example, Jesus was quite simply the most obedient human being who ever lived. I have a hard time thinking that Jesus' obedience was characterized by duty, grunt work, following orders, and drudgery, don't you?
I think a much healthier way of viewing obedience is as a willing, and usually eager, and joyful response to the Father's leading, or a walking with God into His ongoing activity in our relationships and in the larger world around us. We spoke during Advent of the disciples on the road to Emmaus. Though downcast and discouraged on their way, once their eyes were opened to Jesus' presence with them, they lost no time in hurrying back to their friends to share the good news with them. Now that's obedience, too, in my book, just as much as a soldier following orders (which is still obedience, just not a complete picture of it). Just imagine how much freer your life in Christ might be if you began to view obedience like this rather than as dutiful drudgery.
All that to say that we need to read God's word obediently. Here's the "rule" to follow: Read and respond. What if we simply looked at what our morning Scriptures said and then asked God how we could respond to that word, how we could follow Him into our day living out that truth? I think viewing obedience more as a faithful response than as dutiful drudgery would change our lives. Don't you? His Word would take on a whole new freshness, and we'd carry the aroma of that freshness into all we did.
What's essential for us is to persevere, to keep the faith, to press on in our believing and our obedience. Even the atheist philosopher Frederick Nietzsche say the truth and the power of this. He wrote: “The essential thing in heaven and earth is that there should be long obedience in the same direction; there thereby results, and has always resulted in the long run, something which has made life worth living.”
Friends, I think these are the first steps on the road to the transformation we'd like to see. Even if they're at first halting and hesitant, let's walk that road together with Him, what do you say?
Be encouraged, friend, for God, the Maker of Heaven and Earth, who spoke all worlds into being, is both with you and for you.
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