At CVM we are focused on sharing the good news of Jesus to as many men as we can.
So, in light of that, I decided to put together a quick blog series to help us stay in the fight and keep Jesus front and centre during lockdown. This is number 3 and the final one in this series.
Now this might seem a bit counter productive, and you might not want to read the bible this way. Totally fine.
Let me just present my case.
I believe the bible can and will speak to us in a limitless amount of ways as we follow Jesus and open ourselves to let it guide us.
You might find themed studies or bible notes that take a book at a time will help. Or reading the whole bible and going over it in some order etc. Nothing wrong with any of that! But I am suggesting in lockdown 3.0 the approach (and FUN) of simply reading the stories that you love!
I think reading/listening to the bible stories you love will start to recapture the fun, enjoyment and playfulness too of what it means to follow Jesus. It is so easy to get very serious as a Christian, pursue deep theological themes and pathways and miss some of the simplicity of the parables or life moments captured in the bible.
I have been a Christian for over 30 years and have been reading and listening to the bible all that time. I have studied at bible colleges and tried to grapple the complexity of theological ideas and frameworks. Truth is, whilst I have been greatly impacted by that approach, the simplicity of a story or a verse I love has, in lockdown 2.0, been a game changer.
David and Goliath, David and Saul, David and Jonathan, Gideon, Samson, the kings and their battles, the punch ups, lions dens and narrow escapes. Jesus and his parables or ‘I am’ statements. I have just been going over the stuff I love to read.
Maybe I am late to the party here and you are all doing this already. But my advice is; don’t get stuck feeling like you’re reading the bible and it’s not impacting you. Find the stuff in the bible you love to read or hear and spend time with that for a bit.
Image Credit: Glen Carrie
