I learned so much about myself, my God, and my faith. My True Images Bible I got the idea in my head to read the entire Bible before I went to college I got the idea in my head to read the entire Bible before I went to college. I had never succeeded in finishing the Bible-- I had tried at least two other times to read the whole thing. I had, like most people, gotten bogged down in the Old Testament and just never pushed through. Of course, I had been reading my Bible, but I wanted to read it through its entirety. I wanted to read it before college because I knew that college, and the people I would meet, and the different lifestyles and ideologies I would encounter there would all challenge my faith. It was important to me to read the Bible then to have a refreshed understanding of my faith, and to understand it more before it was challenged.
I was getting ready to go to college, so, as I mentioned, I wanted to strengthen and take charge of my faith. And it was summertime, so I had ample time to dedicate to reading the Bible. I did the math and found that I had to read 16 chapters a day to finish the entire Bible in a summer. Ambitious, I know. If I had stuck to 16 chapters a day, I would have finished the Bible that summer. But, some days I was lax, some days I didn't have the brain power to digest what I was reading, and other days I just didn't take the time. However, I did finish the Old Testament before I left for college. It took me my freshman year of college and the following summer to finally finish the New Testament. I let reading my Bible fall down in my priorities throughout the school year as I adjusted to college, and, when I did sit down to read, I never read 16 chapters at a time. So, while it took me a year and a summer to finish the Bible, I know that at no other time in my life would I have stuck with it and finished (as evidenced by the past attempts).
I also switched churches during high school which hugely enriched and challenged my faith. I've learned about biblical authority (how the Bible is the authority of our faith) so I wanted to actually know what that authority says. I've learned that the entire Bible is about Jesus-- the New and Old Testaments. Life is about a relationship with Jesus. When pursuing a relationship, you learn all you can about the person. This became another reason that I was motivated to read the Bible. What I LearnedThe Bible is an amazing cornerstone to develop our faith lives on I learned a lot from my year-plus of reading the Bible. Overall, I learned that the Bible is an amazing cornerstone to develop our faith lives on. I mean, come on, it's the inspired word of God-- what better to build off of? Some of the biggest concepts in the Bible have to be meditated on and considered and prayed over, and you still might not understand them fully-- and that's okay. Every time I sat down to read my Bible, I would pray to God to send His Holy Spirit to me to help me to read what I needed to read, to hear what I needed to hear, and to see what He needed me to see. I also asked Him for focus and comprehension. I fully believe that praying these prayers before Bible-reading sessions is crucial and changes the experience entirely. The Bible says to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17). So why shouldn't we pray for God to help us understand our Christian guidebook?
I will strengthen you and uphold you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand (Isaiah 41:10). The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still (Exodus 14:14). He is before all things and in Him all things hold together (Colossians 1:17). Know that the Lord, He is God! It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture (Psalm 100:3). Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away, the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17).
There is a two-fold reason that we need to know the word of God. It allows us to wield the sword of the Spirit, which then prevents us from entering the spiritual battle weaponless (Ephesians 6:12-18). Big Takeaways & ApplicationAccept my human flaws and work towards bettering them in the grace of God I have two big takeaways from this journey. I always felt bad for skimping on reading the Bible. I realize that I have to accept my human flaws and work towards bettering them in the grace of God. With this, I made myself a "Stop, Drop, and Word" alarm that goes off every afternoon playing "Control" by Tenth Avenue North to remind me to stop, drop what I'm doing, and spend time studying God's Word. (I am so proud of the punny alarm label!)
a) God's love will never fail you b) He has a plan for your life
This was a personal goal that turned into a backdrop for a spiritual season in my life. As I move to the next one, whatever it might be, I can't forget this; rather, I need to apply what I've learned and grow from it. The idea that hindsight is 20/20 applies almost obnoxiously to spiritual seasons. During them, we tend to be blind to the bigger picture. But, once we trust God, and whenever He decides to show us, we get a glimpse of the eternal perspective and see that everything works together for the glory of God-- and we get to be a part of His amazing plan. Wow.
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