Week of July 25, 2010
- Pastor David Hillis
- Jul 22, 2010
"We Revere the Bible More than We Read It"
Recently I read an article by the author of ChristianBibleStudies.com, who told about a young woman who recently visited her church. She considered herself an atheist, but visited just to humor a friend. When she asked the lady why she was an atheist, she said, "I can't believe stuff in a 2,000-year-old book."
Four months later, that atheist is still attending that church, and was baptized. When she was asked what changed, she said it was because of the Bible.
God's Word has a profound way of changing, of transforming our lives, when we give it the time and attention in our lives to allow it to do its work.
A Barna research project last year determined that all four generations of American society (ages 18 and up) saw the Bible as a sacred, holy book. At the same time, while only 1/3 of the Builders generation (64+) saw that the Bible taught truths different from other sacred texts, well over 1/2 of the Mosaics generation (18-25) believed that.
Why is that? As I looked through the research, I found the most obvious, simplest answer. In another place the research stated, "While many young adults are active users of the Bible, the pattern shows a clear generational drop-off – the younger the person, the less likely then are to read the Bible."
Isn't it easy to be skeptical about the Bible when you don't really know what it says? The problem is, so often, Christians believe they know what the Bible says but have never really read it through to know firsthand...let alone read it on a regular basis to allow it to transform us.
This year, the focus of our church's way of discipling — growing spiritually — is by reading through the Bible in a year. Some are reading it, others are listening to it online. Some of you I see are even tweeting or posting on Facebook the verses from the day that impacted you personally. Others send my questions about what they read via email. I love it!
To date, I know of over 70 at Hope who are reading through the Bible, although I'm sure there are many more of you I don't know about.
As we now pass the halfway point this year in reading through the Bible, there are a couple of ways I want to encourage you:
1. Please DON'T GIVE UP! There have been a few times I have gotten behind, and then had to set aside a part of one of my days to do catchup reading, because that's just how I'm wired. For others, that will seem overwhelming. Keep in mind, the goal isn't to have 365 boxes check, but simply to be intentional about making time and space to hear from God through reading His Word. The more time we spend in His presence, the more we come to know Him!
2. Don't just seek to read; seek to understand. So often we can blow through our reading and not really pay attention to what we have read — or we read and don't understand and just keep moving on anyway. Have you ever thought that the answers to some of those very questions might unlock some of the greatest truths to Scripture in your heard that you have been missing all along?
My great uncle, who lived until the final days of his life as a non-Christian, accepted Christ after he asked a preacher in town to explain to him the story of why the axehead floated in 2 Kings 6. For him, that little-known passage along with how God had been working in his life came together to propel his faith in God. What Scripture will that be for you this year?
To help in your efforts to read through the Bible this year, Hope has a series of events planned to help unpack God's Word in 2010 as part of our "Journey through the Bible" series. Periodically, usually on Sunday nights, we have guest speakers come in or show films to help explain the background behind the story of the Bible that have just been fascinating. Our next one of those will be on Aug. 22 focused on the Prophets. During this summer, a series called Growing Deeper is walking us through the book of Acts every Wednesday evening.
How is your reading coming along? Let me know! I'd love to hear from you.
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