Time for change

This blog has been going for three years now, with the initial aim of taking one Bible verse a day and explaining it. These verses have been taken from my personal daily reading schedule. Lately, I’ve found that I’ve been drawn into a rut. My Bible reading has become less and less about God speaking to me personally through the Bible and instead it has become more about finding verses to discuss here. So after prayer, I’ve realised that it’s time for a change.

A few things have happened in the last couple of months that have bothered me. Firstly was a conversation I had with someone from church who admitted that she had never read through the Bible. I’m hoping to talk with her again to ask why, and perhaps you have some comment on this. What has prevented you from reading the whole Bible, or certain books? I’m aware that ploughing through the genealogies of Chronicles doesn’t appeal to most people (if anyone), and that people struggle to understand the symbolism and relevance of prophecy. But a lot of other books are completely readable, yet people don’t. Why not?

Secondly, I visited a church while I was in Adelaide, Australia, recently. It was the kind of church not unlike one that I belonged to about 10-15 years ago. Yet the abundance of spiritual fluff and the lack of meat in the teaching left me feeling very, very sad. The people were lapping it up like water, but there was no substance in it and I wondered how this kind of superficial faith would help them when they encountered real struggles and trials in their Christian walk. I seem to have been very blessed with the Bible teachers I have encountered, who know the meaning of proper exposition and Scriptural context.

I know that God has blessed me with an ability to teach and to write, and I want to use it for His glory. I know that I am not called as an evangelist, but I do feel a very strong call to disciple people, and particularly to see them develop a love for and an understanding of the Word of God. After all, the Bible is the primary means that God uses to teach us things about Himself today.

So instead of short, daily entries, this blog will be changing to more in-depth entries which will be posted weekly. At the moment I’m thinking of discussing key Christian doctrines that people often struggle with, and also providing overview pieces on different books and sections of the Bible to help people understand what they are about as they read them. But this is largely me guessing what people are struggling with and what keeps them from reading the Bible. So I would greatly value your input. If there’s a particular passage of Scripture, or an entire book, that you have given up reading because it doesn’t make sense to you, please let me know what it is (and the reason, if you’re able to), and I’ll make the effort to tackle it. If you’d prefer your comment was kept private, please indicate so and I won’t publish it. Thanks!