Context is KEY

I think something that's hard for many Christians is reading the Bible on a regular basis. Many of us use excuses such as "not having enough time." But I think a major reason many people don't read the Bible is it can be difficult to understand.

I used to feel very unsure of myself and my Bible knowledge. I can remember attending Bible study in college and feeling so intimated. These people could quote scripture or remember a specific passage that said something related to the discussion. They could read and understand things that were confusing to me. I grew up in church, why couldn't I do that?

Well, I figured out one thing...I didn't read my Bible enough on my own. College is when I got more serious about my own personal Bible study. I started off using books to guide me. I'd read about certain people from the Bible or through certain stories.

A few years ago, a book called By His Wounds You are Healed was recommended to me. I decided to use it and it changed the way I view my Bible reading. This book took me through Ephesians. It was like a light bulb went off in my head. It all came together and made sense. I experienced how much easier it is to understand the Bible when you read a book in its entirety. After using that book as a guide through Ephesians, I started reading through other books of the Bible on my own. I was reading through them and understanding them. Please don't think I'm saying I'm a Bible expert. I know I still have much to learn even from the books I've read. I also use a study Bible so there are notes for me to use. But overall...things were just making more sense. We also attend a church now where the pastors preach through entire books of the Bible. I love this model.

Through this, God has shown me that CONTEXT IS KEY. So often verses are taken out of context and used by people to serve their own purposes. Often times, this is done very innocently. I would guess that many times people don't mean to misquote the Bible or to mislead people. Unfortunately, there are even pastors who do this. Any time I see someone quote a verse, especially one I'm unfamiliar with, I always try to look it up and read around it to see what the verse is truly saying.

 This particularly irks me on Facebook. People share things all the time from certain famous pastors and speakers who promote what's known as the "prosperity gospel." People also love to share articles and blog posts that contain the words "Christian" or "Christlike." I read these articles sometimes and see where the authors use verses out of context. This bugs me because it makes me wonder how well people who claim to be Christians actually know God's word. I'm not writing these things to try and say I'm perfect and know everything and have massive amounts of Bible knowledge.

What I am saying is know God's word for yourself. Don't readily accept everything someone else tells you. Hold what pastors and teachers say against God's word. It's okay to disagree with what a pastor or teacher says if you've read God's word for yourself and prayed for understanding for yourself and that's not the way you understand something. Many of the most famous verses people quote aren't used in the correct way. Please note, though, there's a difference between disagreeing with something because it's your personal belief and disagreeing with something because it doesn't match up with God's word. We're not going to like everything we read in God's word. Some of the stuff in the Bible is hard to accept. Some of it we don't want to do.

This is something I've felt very strongly about for a while now and I have wanted to write a blog series on it. Maybe one day when I don't feel so overwhelmed and can put the time into it I will.

"Follow Me" Thoughts Week 1

I'm participating with Satisfaction Through Christ for the "Follow Me" Bible study. I already had the book Follow Me by David Platt and I decided to just read through it and post my thoughts rather than buying the separate Bible study book.

This is a difficult task for me which is why I write very few serious posts. You have to put so much time and thought into writing about a topic like this. I'll be honest, this week I didn't have the time to put in as was needed. I do want to post a few thoughts, though. So, this will probably seem unorganized and random.

David Platt's books are difficult because he doesn't shrink back from the difficult topics. Chapter 1 is called "Unconverted Believers" and I felt like a lot of the information in it was very similar to his other book, Radical.

He goes through how we've watered down the Gospel to something that fits our needs. We view salvation as a ticket to Heaven rather than a call to surrender our lives. I love how Platt always has stories of believers in other countries who literally give up everything and risk their lives to follow Christ. It's in such stark contrast to our life of ease and convenience.

What's so scary is how he points out how many people are unfortunately deceived. They think they're saved because they "prayed a prayer" or "believe" in Jesus. They don't understand that it's more than that. Our lives have to reflect our belief.

The Bible says that the road that leads to salvation is narrow and many do not find it (Matthew 7:14). It also says that there are many to whom He will say "depart from me for I never knew you" (Matthew 7:23). Those verses are scary. Particularly for someone who grew up in the church. I think when you grow up in church you become comfortable with Christianity. It's normal part of your every day life. It's part of your culture. It can be all too easy to slip into the routine of church and playing the part of a Christian.

The true way to come to Jesus is through repentance. To repent literally means to turn away from something. You turn away from your old way of life or from the world's way of life and you head towards Jesus. This is a constant every day struggle. It's not something you do once and your done. 

This was a good reminder of things I've read in other books as well as in the Bible. I look forward to seeing where this books goes and how I can be challenged to put action to my beliefs.

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Follow Me Intro

When I first started blogging, I talked about my faith a lot more than I do now. I'll admit that one reason I don't do it as much is that you have to put a lot more time and thought into a serious post like that. I think another reason I don't is because it's not the easiest thing to talk about. Especially now that my blog is larger, I have a diverse audience. All of you are no going to agree with me. However, I can't let that stop me. This is my blog and this is my place to share my thoughts and those thoughts include my faith.

I had already begun thinking that I was going to start posting a faith related post every Wednesday. Then, one day I saw where Christie from Satisfaction Through Christ was hosting a Bible Study link up every Wednesday. How convenient. I knew I wanted to sign up. Not only did that fall in line with my plan, but it would help keep me accountable to posting.

The bible study will be going through David Platt's book, Follow Me. This book has been on my "to-read" list for a while now. I really enjoy David Platt's teaching. He is the author of one of my favorite books, Radical, and I often listen to his sermons on my way to and from work. I like that he teaches the Word in context and is very bold. He doesn't try to sugar coat things or try not to offend anyone. He always challenges me.

So, I'm excited about going through this book on my blog. It's been a while since I've done this, so I think it will be good. It's not too late to join in if you're interested.

I also wanted to announce that I was one of the first 5 people to finish the Semi Charmed Summer Reading Challenge and I got to submit an idea for the Autumn version of the Semi Charmed Reading Challenge. I loved doing this challenge and I look forward to the autumn one as well. I'll be slowly putting together my plan on my Book Challenges page as the challenge begins on October 1.