When I became a Christian in 1975 - yes, I'm that old - I was given a little pack called a 'Commitment Pack.' In this folder were a few sheets of paper that would help me understand this new life I had embarked on and a part of the process was memorising scripture. I was also given a book, 'Getting into God' by D. Stuart Briscoe. It lead me through the basics of the Christian faith with questions to fill out, and verses to memorise. In short, these study aids introduced me to the Bible and the big picture of God presented in it's pages.
My understanding and knowledge of God and his Word have - thankfully - grown since those days, and I think a big part of that growth was the priority that was given to reading, studying and memorising scripture when I was young.
The man who pastored our church and his wife (no such things as 'pastoral couples' in those ancient days) were people who perhaps weren't the greatest leaders the church has ever seen, and didn't have the academic credentials of many, but they loved Jesus, they loved the people they were entrusted to shepherd in his name, and they loved the Word of God. My pastor had a big black leather Dakes study Bible. I have no idea who Dakes was or what his theological perspective was, but the Bible was impressive! I loved this couple who faithfully served God by caring for our little church (and I was scared of my pastor too! He was a BIG man and an ex-sergeant major in the British army....and I was twelve.) I guess what I'm saying is that the attitude they had to the Bible instilled in me a love for this book and a desire to know it more intimately.
I can't pretend that I have always been as diligent in my reading and study as I should have been, but the fact remains that from the beginning of my journey of faith the story of God and his work of redemption through Jesus have been important to me. I don't mean proof-texts or a verse here or there to pad out a sermon, but large chunks of the Bible that give context and perspective and illustrate how all these different books and authors are connected in telling this great and supremely important story.
This is what seems to be missing in many of the students and people I speak to. They seem to be able to quote and discuss popular Christian speakers or leadership gurus (Christian or not) far more than the book that is supposed to be the foundation for the Christian life. I'm not against reading and understanding the many teachers we have in the world today (well, maybe some of them.....) but when they have more influence on our lives than the Bible surely something is wrong.
Using random verses from the Bible to kick-start and pad our Sunday messages isn't developing a love for the Word of God in our churches. I'm not just talking about a return to expositional preaching in our churches (or maybe I am), I'm actually thinking that our church gatherings (my own included) need to give a greater priority to reading chunks of scripture than they do. When we devote more time to singing popular worship songs - good though they may be - than we do to the reading and teaching of the Bible something is wrong! The argument that people have a short attention span is a cop-out. We actually have churches full of people who can read Harry Potter or Twilight, so they can give time to and comprehend the unfolding narrative of God revealing himself to his world. This means that as pastors and leaders we have to give time to studying and preparing ourselves, and to working hard at our communication skills and connecting our people to the Bible story and encouraging them to live into it in their lives.
If we don't prioritise the Bible on Sundays, then expecting people to read it because we say so is pointless. Much of what is passed off as exposition these days is allegory, using the Bible way out of context to draw success principles from it's verses. That type of preaching might sell well, but history has shown that when our understanding of God is built on less than the very real and earthy narratives that make up the Bible, the Christian church has suffered and although many people have an experience of the Christian faith, they walk away finding it shallow, unsatisfying and ultimately irrelevant. Unsurprisingly like much of what we see in the Western world today. Maybe, just maybe, what we need aren't more gimmicks, slicker meetings, shinier events or shorter sermons, maybe what we need is a return to the Bible. After all, Peter rightly said, 'Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.' (Jn. 6:68)
Reading chunks of the Bible isn't hard. Most of the letters in the New Testament, and many of the prophets, can be read in less than half-an-hour. The gospel of Mark can be read, in its entirety, in less than an hour. I believe that when we give time to investing in immersing ourselves (like baptising, get the clever connection I just made??) in the Word of God, the Holy Spirit works to grow our knowledge of God, our experience of God, change our character into the image of Jesus, and help us be a far better reflection of his presence in our world.
So be a radical, buck the trend, read and study and embrace and feast on large portions of the Bible. It isn't a magic book to teach you to be successful or rich; it isn't a handbook on how to live a good life; it isn't a book of promises you can manipulate God with; it's a book in whose pages you meet with the one who loves you, created you and died for you. The Bible is a book that reveals God's story, which is your story, and welcomes you into a relationship, a family and a kingdom that is all you ever hoped for and more than you ever dreamed of.
All in the pages of one remarkably unique book.
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