A cart full of ART #5

I love reading. I love books. My favourite type of shopping is looking around bookstores. I like looking at the art on the book cover, the interesting titles and what stories lay hidden in its pages, waiting to be uncovered. I have many favourite books that range from, Lord of the Rings, CS Lewis, Discworld and Little women. But there is one book that remains my favourite and perhaps it may seem like a cliche, but I genuinely love it. It is of course the bible - the no.1 best selling book in the world. Why do I love it? Beause the Word of God is like a colourful explosion. It grips you, it tugs at your heart, it convicts you, it reveals to you a remarkable story with stories within stories to convey to man who the most wondereful creator of the universe is.

Before reading the bible, I didn't understand it. I thought it was a book full of rules. I would flick through its thin wispy paper and see ink letters after ink letters thinking they were irrelevant. But then I started reading it, starting to uncover the story held in its pages. This book contains 66 books and each one with a vibrant message. There are poems, songs, lists, letters, law and stories. This is no rule book. This breathes life and shows meaning. I love it so much because every time I open its pages I find something new, a gem that I missed earlier or a story that I didn't understand before. But what is most fantastic is that each page is telling me more about Jesus. We ask who is God?

Well Open the bible and see for yourself. Sometimes we may not like what we see, sometimes it will surprise us, sometimes it will make us cry. But the bible is fantastic - get your teeth stuck into it and enjoy the feast of life giving words!

Time to consider

Time is an interesting thing, it always feels to me that time speeds up at the best parts of life and then slows down during the waiting periods of life. 10 month of my life seemed to disappear into moments that consisted of challenges, struggles, laughter, epic lessons, study and life changing moments. Right now I have been given what seems a whole summer, two or three months to prepare for the next adventure. I look at this stretch now and know that it will go quickly, but if I stood on the other end of this stretch would I conclude that I made the most out of the time given to me? Would I see all the people I wanted to see, read all the books I wanted to read, watched the movies, taken Gospel opportunities, encouraged others, served in church and show my parents something of Jesus Christ.

One thing I must remember is that time is not my own, it is all Christs. Every day is His. Which really challenges me in how I will spend each day. Will it be idle or will it be full of activity that is exhausting? Will it be rooted in his word, feasting on it daily or will it be quick glances and then sliding into a Sunday Christian.

The last word from Bristol Staff Worker Jim, was a challenge about our bibles. Will they be left on the bedside table or will they be open and regularly read? Its not about legalism or works or guilt. Its about knowing Jesus.

This summer has been given to me as a gift and I want to use it well. A time to rest and to sharpen my mind and to get to know Jesus. It is exciting! Any suggestions on what I can do are welcome...

How are you going to spend your summer?

The strange world of the scriptures

As Ian Stackhouse said:

The scripture are strange. It is a Topsy Turvey world...

We ask - "How do we live?"
Bible says - "You die"

We ask - "How do I become great?"
Bible says - "You become little"

We ask - "How do I aspire to Leadership?"
Bible says - "You become a servant"

We ask - "How do I become rich?"
Bible says - "By giving everything you have away"

Stay Free :: Stay in the Word

Understanding is only part of what we do when we read the bible. The best habit to get into from the start is to remember that the bible is about Jesus.

As I open my study guide on Stay Free... a resource for new christians to go through and I get a chance to go through them with a student. The first one is staying Free and staying in the Word. I am confronted by the quote above - what a reminder!! The bible is about Jesus. It always has been - He has been there since the start of creation, since before that!! This is remarkable because I still always come to the bible and think its about me and its a manual for what I should do and how I should be a Christian. I hear others say that too and then my heart does a quick jump into the truth, that actually it isn't about me...it is about Jesus. Which is exactly why we should stay in the Word of God... We shouldn't stay in it because we have to or because we think it will tell us what to do... but we should stay in it, with our nose pressed to the ink because it is about Jesus and we want to know more about Him!!!

In Chapter 4 of Marks Gospel, Jesus explains how the Word is the seed and how we can recieve the word in different ways. Does that mean anything to us now that we are Christians? Absolutly! We may not be the rocky ground, but we could be the soil that has thorns.

The question to ask is - What will we do with Gods word, how will we respond??

Will we submit to His word or will we reject it? Will we submit to Jesus or will we reject Him? Even as Christians our hearts can be so hard and thats why there is a warning in Hebrews 3:15 ~ "As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”

Do not harden your heart. Delight in His word, recieve Him with Joy.

But that means reading His word in the first place. Staying in the Word means reading and engaging with the word of God. It means seeing Jesus walk out from the pages, it means using scripture as prayers, song, lamentation and to store up in our hearts. It means knowing Jesus more and asking the Holy Spirit to change our hearts. Don't let it become a chore, don't let it become boring. Read the bible, enjoy it. See that the creator of the world has spoken and is speaking to you about himself.

This is amazing!!! Be hungry for the word of God, not for knowledge but because Jesus is amazing and we want to know Him more.

Stay in the Word.