Spreading the fragrance of God's grace everywhere
Are you still nervous about reading the Bible on your own? Do you feel insecure, fearful you’ll come to a false interpretation? Worried you need someone to explain it to you?
Fear no more. While understanding the Bible is a life-long process, the Bible can be meaningful and understandable right now.
Hugh Elmer Brown, of the Chicago Sunday Tribune, attributes this quote to Mark Twain:
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Hear me through. Don’t click out on me yet. Because I’m not doing so well myself.
Maybe you don’t want to talk about it because, the truth is, you are woefully behind. You’re following one of those “Read through the Bible in a year” programs, you’re supposed to midway through the New Testament, and you’re still stuck somewhere in Jeremiah. Or Leviticus.
Maybe, like me, your gut fills with guilt every time you read the Bible. Guilt that you aren’t getting anything out of your reading. Ashamed because you know your mindset. You’re reading just to get through the prescribed chapters for the day and that’s all you are doing – reading.
Let me ease your anxiety and mine. Maybe the problem is not you, but the method you are using. It may not be the right approach for you at this time.
Let’s look at eight approaches to daily Bible reading and the pros and cons to each method.
Open the Bible at random and let the Holy Spirit guide you.
Select a book. Read until something hits you and stop.
There are so many devotional guides out there. How do you choose? Shouldn’t you just be reading the Bible?
Read the same passage of Scripture every day for a week. Record what you learn each day.
Choose a topic and read verses in the Bible that pertain to that topic.
Select a book. Before you start, ask questions you want answered.
Job: Who is the main character of Job? (It’s not what you think!) John: What evidence does John give to show Jesus is the Son of God?
The one that is best for you at this moment. No Bible reading is bad; we just want to make it better. God promises that His Word will accomplish what He sends it to do. When you read the Bible, you plant the Word of God in your mind and soul which gives the Holy Spirit within you something to work with when you need that insight or verse. The important thing, no matter which method you choose, is that you just do it.
What method of Bible reading do you currently use? Do you use a method other what we’ve covered here? A combination of several from the above list? Share in the comments below or on my Facebook page.
I grew up with the story about J. Russel Morse who spent several years in solitary confinement in a Chinese prison for the crime of being a missionary. Rumor has it that Morse had committed the entire New Testament to memory. Morse retained his sanity by quoting to himself huge chunks of Scripture he had memorized.
Our elders and teachers told us this story as a motivation for Scripture memory. “You can’t always depend on having your Bible with you,” we were told. “Someday we may be like the people in China and Russia who have had their Bibles taken from them.”
I listened, wide eyed. Imagine a life without a Bible readily available. It seemed unfathomable. While I agreed in principle that it was great Mr. Morse had memorized all that Scripture, the chance of that ever happening to me was beyond remote. Still, through church camp competitions and a special course taught at my church, I did commit a number of individual verses to memory.
I’m so glad I have. The reason for Scripture memory, always apparent in my walk with Christ, never became as clear as in the last few weeks.
Doctors opted to perform my recent surgery for a torn retina under local anesthesia. My family doctor and a former surgical tech assured me I would be sedated enough to be dimly aware of my surroundings without remembering anything afterwards. Wrong. I was “out” for the pain block that numbed the upper left quadrant of my face. Beyond that, I heard, knew, and remembered everything. I saw lights that were lasers and straight green lines that were needles. I heard the doctor ask for a bigger bit-head for his ultrasound instrument. I heard him ask his assistant for suture material. The surgery was lasting longer than he had predicted and he was obviously doing more than he told me he was going to do. I couldn’t take it anymore. I began to repeat some of those Scriptures I had hidden in my heart. The needles and the “shop-talk” slipped to the background.
Here are some of the verses that sustained me during that difficult time of endurance. Perhaps they can help you as well.
The truth of the matter is this. You don’t know when you may be caught without your Bible or your Bible app on your smartphone. It may not be ripped from you before you enter a jail cell. But you may have your glasses—or your sight—taken from you. You may be strapped to a surgical table or, as I was, face down for a week as your body heals. A power outage or a tornado may silence your smartphone. A traffic accident may fling your phone out of reach. There are many times when your Bible won’t be within easy reach. It may not even be you who is in crisis but someone else who needs you to encourage them with the Word of God. Even if it were in your hands, you wouldn’t know where to turn in times of crisis if you were not familiar with the verses 
beforehand.
You don’t think you can memorize? Here’s an easy way to do it. Choose one verse, just one. Write it out several times and place it where you will see it. Repeat it to yourself every day, several times a day for seven weeks. Keep reviewing it. Soon, it will be imprinted upon your heart, ready for the Holy Spirit to bring to the forefront of your memory when you need it most.
In spite of the physical and emotional discomfort of being awake during that surgery, I’m glad I was. Near the end, the surgeon spoke to me. “I’m a cautious man and I don’t like to make predictions. But we’ve been able to correct some other problems with your eye and I think I can guarantee that you will see better than you ever have before.”
Psalm 37:4, a verse I’d quoted to sustain me now rose in praise: “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” In the late summer of my life, the Lord is giving me the gift of improved sight. Yes, I’ve wanted better sight all my life, but early on, even as a child, I had surrendered my life as a visually impaired person to the Lord. He was giving me the deepest longing of my heart even though I had told Him years ago that it was all right if I couldn’t as long as He would stay with me.
Share with us. Encourage the rest of us. What verse will you memorize this week? What Bible verse has sustained you when you didn’t have your Bible nearby?
Mercy can be messy.Who should we show mercy to? And why was it so important to Jesus? How do we show mercy without enabling sinful behavior?
Let’s look at what Jesus meant when He said, “Blessed are the merciful.”
Prompt: Think about a time when someone showed you mercy.
Bible Passage: Luke 10:25-37
Key Verse:
1. Define mercy.
According to Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, merciful means actively compassionate; a show of sympathy to those in distress or misery.
2. After Jesus told his parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-37, he asked the law expert who was the neighbor in the story. The law expert answered, “The one who showed mercy.” How did the Samaritan demonstrate mercy in this story?
3. Jesus said we are blessed when we are merciful because God will show us mercy. Jesus echoes this reciprocal condition in other places. See Mt 6:14, Luke 6:38, and Eph. 4:32. Why does Jesus put this condition on His mercy to us?
4. Jesus’ audience had lived under a strict code of law. They also believed that those who were sick, crippled, or in dire straits were in that position because of sin. Why might Jesus’ listeners have a hard time accepting Jesus’ comments about mercy?
5. Do you find it difficult to show mercy? When? To Whom? Why? How does one balance wisdom and discernment with mercy? Think about Mt 10:16 and James 2:12,13.
Who is facing a difficult time or struggling with life circumstances in your circle of influence? Write down three ways you can show mercy to that person. Choose one to do this week.