Strength for the Week - A Good Read

Here is this week's SFTW.  I pray it is a blessing!

A Good Read
         
I touched last week on the fantastic stories of contained in the pages of the Bible.  And as some of you may know, I am an avid reader.  I used to lose myself in books by the dozens every year.  The classics, fantasy, sci-fi, horror, mystery; you name it, I read it. 
My favorite book was The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas.  It is the story of a young man in love who is falsely accused of a crime and wrongly imprisoned.  Through a fantastic escape and an unlikely fortune left to him, He spends years planning his revenge.  It was the ending of this book that made it so unbelievably wonderful.  He sets his plan in motion and… well… I’m not going to spoil it for you…
One of my pet peeves was a bad book.  This is mostly because I could not bring myself to put down an unfinished book.  Once I started it, I finished it, no matter how horrible.  I have read a lot of bad books…  I also never read a book twice, no matter how much I loved it.  There were far too many books to be read to be repeating myself!
I remember one day back in September of 2004: I was about two thirds of the way done with Cervantes’ Don Quixote, which I was thoroughly enjoying.  But instead of reading that one night, I picked up the Bible in response to a challenge laid down by one of my friends.   I read chapter one of the Gospel of John.  The next night, I read chapter two.  The next night, I read chapter three, and realized (much to my chagrin, at the time) that somewhere over the last three days I had become a Christian. 
When I became a Christian, I changed in many ways.  Here are two examples: I can bring myself to put down an unfinished book (even a good one), and I can re-read a book.  I never did pick Don Quixote back up, and I continue to re-read the Bible over and over again.  Why?  Because it has better stories than any other book?  That’s true, but that isn’t it.  Because I find new truths every time I pick it up?  Also true; also not it.  Because I just plain should as a Christian?  Again: true.  Again: not it.
Brothers and sisters, I read the Bible over and over again because it is MY story.  In the Bible I meet my oldest ancestors as they walk with God in the Garden.  I meet my great-to-the-hundred-somethingth-power grandfather as he spends 50 years building a boat.  I meet my spiritual ancestor as he leaves his home to go God only knows where (literally).  I meet my Brother/Savior/Friend/God Jesus Christ and His Father on every page.  But most importantly, I meet me.
I meet myself in the sins of my brothers and sisters.  I meet myself in their God given victories.  I meet myself in the crowds mocking Christ.  I meet myself rejoicing with His disciples in His exaltation.  I meet myself in Saul of Tarsus, religious zealot.  I meet myself in the Apostle Paul, bondservant of Christ.
You see, I used to spend my time losing myself in books, but now I find myself in The Book.  Brothers and sisters, I encourage you: this week, get into the Word like you never have before. Find in those fantastic, true stories about God’s people, in the great history of God pursuing His people, and in the glorious story of God reconciled us to Him the story about <insert your name here>.
Because the story of God’s people is still being written…

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Strength for the Week - Selfishly Alone

Selfishly Alone I heard a preacher I like talk about why Christians should go to church.   He used this story as an illustration: ‘A pastor was having a barbeque at his house.   The entire congregation was invited.   There was one man in particular who came with his wife. She was a member of the church, but he himself, though a professing Christian, was not. So while the pastor was grilling, he called the man over and asked him why he did not come to church.   The man replied: “Pastor, I believe in Jesus Christ.   I know my soul is secure. I don’t need church.   I am just fine being a Christian on my own.”   As the conversation continued, the pastor pulled one piece of charcoal that was too hot to touch out of the fire with tongs, and placed it on the ground. When the man was growing tired of the conversation he started to excuse himself, but the pastor asked him to pick up the piece of charcoal first.   The man did and he held it out to the pastor. The pastor said: “When th
Read more

A New Way to Get Strength

Okay, I know I may be behind the times, but I found this new thing called "Blogging". I wonder if anyone else is doing it... Anyway, the days of writing a (mostly) weekly SFTW in Word and e-mailing a document that some could open and some could not are now behind me. Instead, I will be writing right here. Please enter your e-mail address in the little box on the right and subscribe to the SFTW blog. Then, I assume, this internet thingy somehow alerts you when I post something new and you will get a message in your inbox thingy. (Sorry, I didn't mean to get so technical...) Will I post every week? Hopefully. I think with the ease of this new "Blogging" thing, I may even post more than that. Either way, I'd love to have your support in this and I'd love to have you read what God puts on my heart to write. I still love you all!
Read more

Push and Pull

Let me tell you about Juliana (real name used with permission).  She is a young lady that I work with.  As far as I know, she is not a believer, though she is not antagonistic towards talk about God. She said something that struck me a few weeks ago.  While I was speaking to Jenny (see the post from a few weeks back here ) about her upcoming wedding, and as I was asking her about her fiancée’s church membership (or lack thereof), Juliana basically wondered, out loud, if I was trying to convince Jenny and her hubby-to-be to join RFH.  I explained that I was not doing that, but that I firmly believed that Christians should belong to a local church that was doctrinally sound whether it was RFH or not. Then she said, “You’re a religious drug pusher.” Interesting… Now, Juliana is a sassy young woman with a sarcastic streak.  I think she was only joking (though I could be wrong).  And I would hardly consider myself a religion pusher, a faith pusher, or even an evangelist for
Read more