There Is More To Reading

Many times in my ministry I have encouraged people to read their bibles. To no avail in most instances. Encouragement to take them off the shelf, pick them up and blow the dust of them and just open the cover. Most people don’t, but that’s another story for another time. Like most of us, people have good intentions, but . . . Some take up the adventure opening the cover and read about people and places of long long ago. There are stories of intrigue and suspense. There are naked people walking around in beautiful gardens. There are wars, killing and families like ours who have their disagreements and shall I say, “Family Feuds.”
If we have been part of the church thing most of our lives, we will have some idea of who the people are and something about what happened. But we forget. We blend some histories together with others. I remember a quiz from long ago that asked some interesting questions. The first one was, and yes I remember it, “How many animals did Adam take on the Ark?”. Did you get it? First, no one knows how many animals were on the Ark. What we do know is they came in pairs, one male and one female. The second part of the question is, it was not Adam but Noah. I knew you knew that.
When we arrive at the New Testament, we get to see a different dynamic. I see this part of the bible as more then just God’s history and we being a part of His history. I see in the New Testament a collection of books that talk about changed lives. The disciples were changed from ordinary men to followers to leaders. Some were in our estimation, uneducated, floundering, inept, unwilling and unuseable leaders. Well, that is at first. Things changed when Jesus took hold of them. They were change not only in their personal and spiritual life when they met Jesus, but they were also changed internally. It was a change outside time and space and education or any of the things we attribute to bringing about a changed life. The change came when they met the master and their heart and soul was changed.
Something touched them. They were different. What happened is what can happen to all of us. We just have to do more then just read the words found in our bibles. What we need to do is let ourselves be changed by what we read. Yes, you can read a novel and be taken in by what you read. But ultimately it’s just a story. A make believe.
Our bible is not just a story. It is the hand of God letting us in on what changed people then and how it can change us today. As I encourage people to read the bible today, I encourage them to go further, to go past the words and what we read. All of us need to read the holy words of scripture and let it into your mind, heart and soul and in so doing, to meet the God who loves us.
Mark probably said it best, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” Mark 12:30
This is just one verse you will read and spend time thinking about until it speaks to you. Go ahead, take a few minutes. Read the words until they change your heart and soul.
Something to think about.
Rob