Make the Bible Your Hobby

When someone is passionate about something, you can't help but notice. When they talk about it, some of their enthusiasm might even be infectious. Their interest can make the topic interesting.

I want that to be us. Let's get Christians to be passionate about something in particular. I came across an idea that I want to put before you: Make the Bible your hobby.

Building the Habit

Christians are taught to revere the word of God. After all it's "living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart" (Heb 4:12). It's "God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work" (2Tim 3:16-17). The scriptures are "more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb" (Psalm 19:10).

We love the Bible. But we still struggle to read it.

The Importance of a Balanced Diet

Man cannot live by broccoli alone.

A diet of nothing but broccoli would lead to malnutrition. A healthy body requires a variety of foods to get the vitamins, minerals, proteins, and fats that the body needs to operate properly.

A healthy mind and soul needs variety as well.

The Long-Term View

God plays the long game. He has plans within plans. He had our salvation planned out before the foundation of the world. As soon as Adam and Eve fell, he began telling us about it. He worked events out over the course of centuries, having Jesus born into a world perfectly shaped so that he would be put to death merely for claiming to be who he is.

We, on the other hand, are terrible at making long-term plans. My weekly meal plan doesn’t even usually survive intact. There’s a place in Mary’s Magnificat that is both a beautiful promise and a warning. It tells us that we need to get better at planning.

The Joy of Knowledge

Have you ever noticed that experts can enjoy things far more than normal people?

I’m musically inclined; I can read music, play piano poorly, and enjoy singing. I love good music and good performances. I even enjoy a musical episode of TV shows when they’re done well. The CW show The Flash did such an episode, and it was great. Most of the cast sang beautifully, and the songs were cleverly written. Then I came across a YouTube video of a vocal coach reacting to it, and I realized I was watching that episode deaf and blind.

7 Tips for Memorizing Scripture

We’ve all been taught the value of “hiding God’s word in your heart” (Ps 119:11), and we know that’s probably true, but it’s hard and time consuming, and I’ve only got so much time in a day.

But what if it’s not that hard and doesn’t consume that much time?

I’ve been trying to convince you of the benefits of memorizing scripture. Today I want to offer some tips I’ve either found through experience or learned elsewhere.

If Only You Would Slay The Wicked, O God

For all the Bible is filled with inspiring and comforting passages, there are places in the scriptures that stop us cold. The imprecatory Psalms, for example, are passages that call down judgment or calamity on their enemies or the enemies of God. We don’t quite know what to do with that.

Meditating on them can help us to make sense of — and peace with — those uncomfortable passages.

Getting the Bible Under Your Skin

We’ve all read “Blessed is the one ... whose delight is in the law of the LORD, and who meditates on his law day and night” (Psalm 1:1-2). That sounds great. We want to be “blessed”. Meditating on God’s word day and night sounds wonderful. The only problem is ... actually doing that. Are we supposed to walk around with a Bible in our hand all day long?

Wouldn’t it be great if we could download the Bible into our heads like they do in The Matrix? Alas, that is not an option. We’ll have to settle for the analog version: Memorizing it one line at a time.

People have always harped on us about memorizing scriptures, and we can all rattle off a few, but I want to encourage you about two things:
1) There is great benefit in memorizing more and longer passages.
2) It’s not as hard as you think. (That’s not to say it’s easy. Few worthwhile things are easy. It’s just not as hard as you think.)

Level Up Your Faith

When you’re a new believer, it seems like the world explodes into technicolor. You’re growing spiritually by leaps and bounds. It’s almost like you’re living on a mountain top with God. Then suddenly everything ... s l o w s ... d   o   w   n ....

Why? What changes? How do we get past this so we can feel like we’re growing again?