lent
In December I spoke at Xenia Friends Meeting. I mentioned that I loved the Bible but hadn't been very intentional about reading it last year.
Fast forward to the first of this month. I was walking and talking with God, seeking His will for another sermon for Xenia Friends, when He put on my heart to read the Bible--the entire thing--for Lent.
The sermon wasn't even about Lent. I wasn't even thinking about reading the whole thing. It just seemed out of nowhere. So I asked, are you sure you don't want me to study trust or forgiveness or the book of John? The whole thing in 40 days? How can I possibly even gain understanding reading that much that fast?
A few days later I read a blog by Margaret Feinberg, who was e-introduced to me by a mutual friend of ours last year. Margaret said God was leading her to read the Bible--the whole book--for Lent. She had a reading guide and a set of guidance already created. One piece of guidance was that if you were going to read that much in that short of time you had to read for the big picture, and not get bogged down in the details.
So I guess that settles it. I'm reading the Bible for Lent.
I couldn't wait to get started, so I admittedly skipped Fat Tuesday indulgences and started my week with Genesis. Already I'm excited to see how much God wants to speak to us, love us, and be part of the journey with us.
Here's to the next 40 days...
EMBRACE LENT.
Reading Genesis in The Message version of the Bible.
Fast forward to the first of this month. I was walking and talking with God, seeking His will for another sermon for Xenia Friends, when He put on my heart to read the Bible--the entire thing--for Lent.
The sermon wasn't even about Lent. I wasn't even thinking about reading the whole thing. It just seemed out of nowhere. So I asked, are you sure you don't want me to study trust or forgiveness or the book of John? The whole thing in 40 days? How can I possibly even gain understanding reading that much that fast?
A few days later I read a blog by Margaret Feinberg, who was e-introduced to me by a mutual friend of ours last year. Margaret said God was leading her to read the Bible--the whole book--for Lent. She had a reading guide and a set of guidance already created. One piece of guidance was that if you were going to read that much in that short of time you had to read for the big picture, and not get bogged down in the details.
So I guess that settles it. I'm reading the Bible for Lent.
I couldn't wait to get started, so I admittedly skipped Fat Tuesday indulgences and started my week with Genesis. Already I'm excited to see how much God wants to speak to us, love us, and be part of the journey with us.
Here's to the next 40 days...
EMBRACE LENT.
Reading Genesis in The Message version of the Bible.
I have probably read 70% of it, but Leviticus bores me to tears, and there are other Old Testament books that have close to the same effect.
ReplyDeleteMost of the New Testament is fun to read, but not the Revelation. I still don't know what to think of it.
Hope you blog about the experience as you go along!
ReplyDelete