Monday, January 5, 2015

Lessons Learned from Daily Bible Reading

As I mentioned in the previous post, 2014 was the first time that I successfully read through the Bible in a year. Now that I have accomplished this, I'm trying to figure out what to do next. It's similar to the feeling you get after you've completed a marathon. I ran a half marathon approximately 6 years ago. While it reinforced that I had no desire to run a full marathon, after my recovery I realized that I really like running. At that point in time, I wasn't sure how to incorporate running in to my life since I was no longer training for an event. By doing research and talking to like minded people, over time I figured out what I wanted to do for myself. That half marathon may have been the spark that started my recreational running journey.

I think my Bible reading may be going through a similar transition; I'm not sure what to do next but I do know that it's important to me and it will be part of my life on a regular basis. As I ponder what next, I reflect back on some of the things I learned while reading:

God is a God of order - the book of Genesis establishes the beginning and Revelation outlines the end. Between these 2 books there are lists of generations, delineation of laws, counts of people and tribes, instructions for building the tabernacle and concrete laws for living. There is nothing haphazard to what is written in the Bible

God cares about you - the people in the Bible were not perfect. But the stories that are written there could easily take place in the 21st century. There's scandal, bad choices, rape, adultery, gossip. But they all point to the fact that nothing you are going through is too difficult for God and that he cares about your redemption and salvation.

Sex is an expression of love - Sex has been with us from the beginning of time. Of the 66 books there is 1 book totally dedicated to the interaction between a husband and her wife. To me this forms a ratio for how often we think and talk about sex. It's important but its not the be all and end all, so for example, we don't need to use sex to sell gadgets.

None of your choices surprise God - throughout the Bible different people and circumstances are used to demonstrate the principle of reaping sowing. We can learn from those that made foolish as well as wise choices. We see that when you make a foolish choice, it's not the end of the road,
there's always a second chance. We see that wise choices reap beautiful results. We learn that a person's character is essential in determining the kind of choices they make.

God made us all - and He can us us regardless of our perceived flaws. So many imperfect people were used by God; some even vocally doubted that they could do what they were called to do. In spite of their flaws they relied on God and not their own strength to do the work assigned to them.

There's so much more; and as I recall the lessons I'll be sure to blog about them.


Source

........And the Scriptures give us hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God’s promises to be fulfilled. Romans 15:4 [NLT]

What lessons are you learning from reading the Bible?

1 comment:

  1. I haven't been as deligent as I want to be about reading my bible but I need to do. Thanks for sharing these nuggets with me! Good luck on the transition!

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