To get the full flavor of an herb, it must be pressed between the fingers, so it is the same with the Scriptures; the more familiar they become, the more they reveal their hidden treasures and yield their indescribable riches.
—JOHN CHRYSOSTOM, A.D. 347-407
My pastor once said, “More than anything else, God breathed life into you so you could know Him.” Yet most of us have no clue what it means to actually “know God.” In the last chapter we studied some of the names of God, which helped give us a glimpse of who God is. But stopping there would be like the hockey player who suits up for games without ever going to practice. He may know how to skate, but he has no idea about the offensive and defensive strategies of the game. When he’s blindsided by an opposing team member who smashes him against the wall, he slowly gets up, bruised and battered, and hurries off the ice. He may even rush out of the arena vowing never again to set foot on ice. He decides hockey should be played only by gifted athletes like Wayne Gretzky.
With righteous indignation, we scoff, “What a moron!” But just a minute. Are his actions any different from ours when it comes to studying the Bible? We may think it’s all well and good for others, especially those “called” into ministry—pastors, preachers, and priests. It’s their job, right? We shrug it off assuming we could never come close to understanding scripture, much less knowing God in that way. Better to leave that to the pros.
But what happens when you or I are blindsided like that hockey-player-wannabe? What do we do when life gets ugly and messy? How do we survive the shock of divorce or the death of a spouse or child or parent? How do we handle horrible physical injury from an accident? How do our soldiers and sailors move beyond life-changing battle wounds while serving in times of war?
Put yourself in any of those situations and tell me how you would handle such a tragedy. Until we’ve been there, we might like to think we’d cope. Somehow we’d make it. But when we’re actually staring at the tiny coffin holding our baby’s body, we realize “coping” isn’t even in our vocabulary. Until we’re comforting a son or husband who just lost both arms and legs when his convoy hit a roadside bomb, we have no idea how we’ll ever make it another hour, day, or month—much less the rest of our lives.
The good news is we don’t have to suffer alone. We don’t have to carry the burdens of our messy lives alone. God is there for us. He wants to be the Comforter in Chief for the worst that life on this earth may hand us. But we need to know Him—genuinely know Him—not just when tragedy strikes. We need to know Him every moment of every day we live. We need to quit leaving it to the professionals and make knowing Him the most important mission of our lives.
Let me share a passage of scripture with you. The setting was the Lord’s Supper. Jesus was giving His final words of wisdom and instruction to His disciples (and to us), knowing He would soon be arrested and crucified. Here’s what He says:
Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. —John 15:4-6, ESV
We don’t use the term abide much in our culture today. In the context of these verses, it represents the idea of being at home with or living with. Now don’t get nervous or freaked out, but I actually looked up abide in the original Greek and discovered it’s the word meno. It means “to stay (in a given place, state, relation, or expectancy): abide, continue, dwell, endure, be present, remain, stand.”1 In today’s vernacular we might describe it as hanging out with someone on a personal level. I’m guessing Jesus knew we’d get confused about this whole concept, so He described it through the metaphor of a vine and its branches. If He is the vine and we are the branches, the only way we’ll survive is for us to be connected to Him: to dwell with Him or to remain in a relationship with Him. Otherwise we shrivel up like those useless branches and get tossed in the fire.
You make the call: Abide with Jesus and get to know Him—or go your own way without Him and get toasted. Which will it be? The Lord also gives us a beautiful promise in the next couple of verses of that passage.
If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.
—John 15:7-11, ESV
He just lays it all out there, doesn’t He? He offers us the absolute purest form of joy if only we’ll spend time with Him, live with Him, dwell in Him. Unfortunately, our selfish human tendency is to make a grab for the blessings He offers without any intention of actually doing the prerequisite abiding. Gimme some of that vino, baby! Fill my glass to overflowing! We completely blow it, ignoring the fact that the vineyard will only bear fruit if we take care of the vine.
“If you abide in me, and my words abide in you . . . ”
The only way we will ever get to know God is by reading His Word. It’s all there. He’s written it all out for us. Everything we ever need to know about the God of the universe—the God who made you and me, the God who is able to provide every answer to every question we will ever have—is right there in the Bible.
Excuse me, did you just yawn while reading what I just said?
See, that’s the problem. Most of us know little or nothing about the Bible. We’ve never spent any quality time reading it, let alone studying it. Oh, a snippet here, a verse there, but reading to study God’s word? Hardly. Perhaps a few scripture verses attached to Sunday’s sermon are outlined in our church bulletin. Great! But that was never intended to be the full extent of our Bible knowledge.
For those of us who may have grown up in church, attending Sunday school regularly, we may have an inkling about certain passages. We may have memorized the books of the Bible or participated in Bible drill contests. But we’re sadly remiss if that was the last of our Bible training.
A side note, if I may. Yes, we’re all responsible for our own lives and our individual walk with Christ. But I think a certain responsibility also falls on those who are called to preach and teach. For hundreds of years far too many men and women who have preached to us and taught us God’s Word have taken the most important message in all of history and made it dry as sawdust. They’ve made the Living Word of Life so parched and tasteless it’s a wonder anyone still listens.
When Ken was in seminary we attended a large metropolitan church in Fort Worth. We were part of dynamic Sunday school class of other young couples, most of them fellow seminary students. Our teacher was a vice president at the seminary. He was a phenomenal Bible teacher, and we loved both him and his precious wife.
The pastor of the church? Oh my. Let’s just say we all had a nickname for him—Snooze Robbins (not his real last name; I’m not that heartless). Honestly, it was an Olympic event just trying to stay awake during his messages. He was a beloved man who dearly loved the Lord, but he was long, long overdue for retirement. Somewhere along the line he just lost what I call that fire in the belly for preaching. I don’t for a minute doubt his passion or heart for God. I think it was more a case of a worn-out delivery. Fortunately, while we were still there at seminary, he did in fact retire.
Then there are the overabundance of Bible teachers or preachers on television who drone on and on as if they’re reading the phone book instead of God’s love letter to us. Give me a break. Granted, I’m not a big fan of the screamers or the hell-fire-and-damnation preachers or those who sob through their messages. So I’m not sure which is worse. That’s probably a matter of personal preference.
But one thing I know: God’s love letter to you and me is anything but bland!
Jim Davis was the minister of music at the downtown Tulsa church where I grew up. They broke the mold with Jim. He was out of the box before there was a box. The man was hilarious. We couldn’t get enough of him, and those of us in the youth group often stopped by his office whenever we were at church. On the wall hung a framed poster of a traditional church service as seen from the preacher’s point of view behind the pulpit. There on the first row is Jesus, dressed in biblical garb. He’s slumped down in the pew, His legs stretched out in front of Him, crossed at the ankles, His head resting on the shoulder of the man next to Him. He’s sound asleep. You can almost hear Him snoring. I love that poster. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve thought of that image through the years.
Dear pastor, if your preaching is that dull and boring, I beg you to take a sabbatical and try to find out why. What sucked the life out of your calling? How can you make the life-changing, astonishing good news of God’s amazing love so monotonous and bland? What happened to your passion?
There’s a wonderful verse in Psalm 34:8 where David cries out, “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!” Bland? Dull? Boring? No way.
Unfortunately, too many of us have never “tasted” to begin with; and for those who have, many were treated to a flavorless knock-off that was nothing like God intended. Please don’t shun the greatest story ever told just because of some past “unsavory” experience.
Through the course of my life, I’ve attended a lot of different churches. From time to time I would hear murmurings in some of those congregations, something along the lines of, “I’m just not being fed spiritually here.” I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard those exact words, no matter where I attended church. Such a strange concept to me. Whenever I heard it, I was always a little tempted to tie a bib around the person’s neck and twist open a jar of baby food. It just seemed like the right thing to do.
It also struck me that the person making that statement was somehow implying he or she was just oh-so-much-more spiritual than the pastor of the church. Okay. I suppose that’s entirely possible. But let’s be honest. Is your spiritual health your pastor’s responsibility, or is it yours? Because I’ve always thought of the whole church and Sunday message experience as so much icing on the cake. But it’s my responsibility to make that cake. I’m responsible for my own spiritual growth, and so are you.
Isn’t it time to yank off that bib and find out for yourself what’s in this Love Letter God wrote you? Isn’t it time you took your relationship with God to the next level and discovered all that it can be?
Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.
—1 Peter 2:2-3, ESV
Spiritual milk is sufficient for spiritual “babes in Christ”; but as you grow, you require more. As the physical body needs protein, the spiritual body also yearns for something more substantial. We need to understand the teachings of Scripture, the depth of God’s love, the call to tell others of God’s grace, hope, and forgiveness. Sadly, many of us never grow beyond those babes in Christ. We’re content to be spoon-fed; and if no one feeds us, we shrivel up spiritually and become useless. Envision grown adults still wearing diapers, if you will. They’re everywhere. And yes, they’re seated on the pews all around you. (I wonder if that’s where the term “pew” came from? I’m aghast at the thought.)
In Lord, Teach Me to Pray, Kay Arthur put it this way: “If we do not know our God and His ways, our prayer lives will be impotent and ineffective.”2 And it all goes back to knowing God through His Word. Likewise, if we don’t have a meaningful prayer life, we’re never going to experience the life God intended for us to live. We may fool ourselves into thinking it’s enough to attend church regularly or toss a few dollars into the offering plate, but we certainly don’t fool God.
Do you have a serious hunger for God? A deep-seated yearning to know Him well enough that you’re completely at ease in His presence as you pray? Then I challenge you to feed that hunger with some serious “meat” and satisfy that longing by dusting off your Bible and getting genuinely acquainted with Him, one-on-one.
Okay, I’ve made the commitment to start reading my Bible. But where do I start?
There are all manner of ways to study the Bible. The first order of business is picking out the right translation. Some would say the King James Version is the only accurate translation. Others find more updated translations—like the English Standard Bible or the New American Standard Bible—are easier to understand. Paraphrased versions are more reader-friendly but be advised they are just that—paraphrased. Stick to a good study Bible for more accurate translations.
Reading the Bible from start to finish—from Genesis to the book of Revelation—would never be a waste of time, but I don’t think it’s the best way to start. Do your homework. If your church offers a Bible study group, sign up for it. Check your nearest Christian bookstore for study books to help get you started. Find out which method appeals to you to get the most out of your reading. There are some excellent resources available to help you on this journey, like the Read-the-Bible-in-a-Year plans that offer a mix of Old and New Testament readings each day. That’s a great way to get the overview of this magnificent book. Others suggest starting with the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) in the New Testament—preferably starting first with the book of John, then reading through the rest of the New Testament. Whatever your choice, just make sure you have a plan and stick to it.
I’ll never forget the first time my family attempted to have family Bible reading times together. I was probably eight or nine years old at the time. We’d recently moved to another state and joined a Bible-teaching church where families were encouraged to read the Bible together. After dinner one night, we all sat down in our living room. My father began reading the first chapter of Matthew. If you’re not familiar with that chapter, it’s a long list of names tracing the genealogy of Christ, going all the way back to Abraham in the Old Testament. The King James Version uses the term begat, which basically means “produced” or “gave birth to.” Take a look.
The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren; And Judas begat Pharez and Zerah of Tamar; and Pharez begat Hezron; and Hezron begat Ram.
—Matthew 1:1-3, KJV
Begat, begat, begat. It continues like this for the entire chapter. Fascinating reading, I suppose, if you’re into that sort of thing. So Dad thought we should just skip over all those verses and move along. Mom thought we should include them. They got into quite a “discussion” over it; and long story short, that was the end of our family Bible readings. My sister and I looked at each other in silent sibling-speak. What was that all about?
I know what you’re thinking. How silly to let something so trivial keep you from a meaningful family experience. You’re exactly right. But my parents were in uncharted territory and really had no idea how to go about it. They needed a plan. They needed to know the best way to read through a massive book that’s hundreds of pages long, covering sixty-six individual books, without getting tripped up.
To a newbie, I would give a quick caution. It’s important to note that the books of the Bible were written thousands of years ago, and some have been translated from what are called the dead languages. Meaning, there will be some passages that are difficult to understand. There are also historical, cultural, and linguistic differences to keep in mind, as well as a whole truckload of literary devices and types. All the more reason to join a Bible study group where you can work through the passages that may stump you on first read.
Case in point. There’s a story in the second chapter of the book of John that tells of the occasion when Jesus performed His first public miracle. The setting was a wedding in Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mothe
r, Mary, was also a guest at the wedding. At some point during the wedding, the wine ran out. Skimpy host? Over-imbibing guests? Who knows. But for some reason, the Bible tells us Mary went to Jesus and said, “They have no more wine.” Did she know He had a special “gift set” for this type of thing? Probably so. There’s no telling what kind of mysterious antics young Jesus had dazzled her with through the years. But He’d never performed any of those miracles in public before. And evidently, He wasn’t ready to go public that day because He responded to her by saying, “Woman, what does this have to do with me?” (John 2:4, ESV)
As a mother, I’m thinking Mary’s eyes would have sparked with instant fury. She would have yanked her son by His ear and said, “What did you just say to me, young man? You do not talk to your mother like that! I raised you better than that! Do you have any idea what I’ve gone through for You? Do you? The ridicule I endured in our town when I was carrying You? The ridiculous accommodations I had to put up with at your untimely arrival that night in Bethlehem? Here—wanna see the stretch marks?!” At which point, Jesus surely would’ve groveled, apologized profusely, then come up with a better way to express Himself. Right?
Not so fast. See, we jump to all kinds of conclusions if we just give a quick read to passages of scripture like this. For years I was indignant that Jesus would talk to His mother like that—until I finally put on my big girl pants and decided to do some research. Turns out the original Greek word He used for “woman” in this verse isn’t nearly as disrespectful as it sounds in today’s English. In fact, Jesus used the very same term when He lovingly addressed His mother for the last time from the cross. But His use of that word toward her at that wedding in Cana was most likely a term of endearment that also served to gently inform her that their relationship would now change. He wasn’t five any more. He was thirty years old, which in that time period was ancient. And if Mary unknowingly prodded Him into performing this “public” miracle of turning water into wine, perhaps He used the opportunity to let her know He was now stepping into His role as the Son of God, no longer Mary’s little boy.
All that to say, the Bible is packed full of fascinating stories and relevant information for our lives. And it is worthy of our time and hopefully our passion to study it and learn about it, to dig beyond the mere words on the page to gain a more complete understanding of this love letter from God.
I think the more you know about the Bible, the more you’ll want to dig deeper into specific books of the Bible. I love reading Psalms. It was probably the first book of the Bible I studied. Sunday school teachers taught us if we let our Bibles fall open in the middle, we’d find the Psalms. I read through those 150 chapters at least two or three times a year.
Each time I do, it’s like getting reacquainted with old friends. I’ve underlined favorite passages and highlighted particular verses, jotting down the dates when they had significant meaning in my life’s journey. I usually read through the New Testament at least once a year. There, I spend a little extra time in the book of James and Paul’s letters to the Ephesians and the Philippians—some of my favorite books.
I have friends who are completely fascinated by Revelation, the last book of the Bible, which is filled with prophecy. In other words, the Bible is quite literally a book that has something for everyone. That said, you really should read through the entire Bible at some point in your spiritual journey. Otherwise, it’s much too easy to take things out of context or jump to inaccurate conclusions. In other words, read the book!
Once you become acquainted with God’s Word and the many lessons and stories in it, you begin to understand more about your heavenly Father, whom you’ve committed to follow. With each new morsel of truth, you learn better how to live your life. You can finally begin to abide in Him as He has called you to do.
“So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17, NKJV). With that promise, we can rest in the assurance that we’re walking according to His plan for our lives. It is the greatest adventure you’ll ever live, my friend. Don’t miss the blessing.