We talked about being a disciple tonight in small group. Not just being a "Christian" but a true disciple of Jesus. About living a life that is reflective of who God actually wants us to be and living out a life that is representative of that. (That's kind of redundant....anyway.)
I feel the tug almost every day to break open the Bible or read something that will teach me something about the Bible or church or Christianity or whatever. But I've been finding myself far too lazy lately to read or write anything significant. I am pretty busy most of the day, but there are frequent windows of opportunity that I blow off. I need to stop doing that. It's like I read stuff in spurts. I'll read a lot really quickly for a couple of weeks or so and then I won't read anything for a month or more. I'm kind of in a funk about what to read. I want to become more acquainted and familiar with the stories of the New Testament. But my mind begins to wander when I sit down and try to actually read parts of the Bible. Maybe I need to read The Message translation or something. I read the book of Acts a couple of months or so ago and that was cool. I started Matthew and I just got bored. And I know there's more to being a disciple than reading the Bible. But that's something that I know I need to be doing more of and I just can't seem to find the desire to do it. Anyway, does anyone have any suggestions to get me out of this lazy funk? Are there any good books out there that might intrigue me?
I'm looking for serious suggestions here. Don't fill my comments full of useless crap.
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Posts
3 comments:
SURELY you aren't referring to me or Jim...
Anyway, one way to "get out of this" is to go back to the age-old method of reading a single chapter (or however many) a day. You've probably done this before, but it helps as a small, short goal, and it doesn't overload you so that you feel like you're trying to ingest 2000 words at once -- and you don't get bored or fatigued from just reading and reading. Lastly, if you stick to small portions, it's easier to spend the time until you next read reflecting on what you just read.
Another thing that I've done is to remind myself that I can sit down and read Steven Brust or Asimov and read a huge chunk of the book in one sitting (I'm a fast reader), so I ought to be able to do the same with the Bible, seeing as how a lot of my books contain a lot more words.
It was suggested to me years ago to read the book of John first, and I found it to be the most interesting of the 4 gospels(which of course, cover the life of Jesus). I find myself reading daily for a while from the Bible, then I seem to be drawn to inspirational things for a while. I believe it's normal, and that God speaks to us through other writings other as well as the Bible.
I resemble that remark...
I started teaching Sunday school to our college group. It has put a burden on me to actually read the Bible again. But it helps that I need to be able to explain to others (outspoken skeptics and know-it-alls at that). So I have to do my homework.
I'd like to think that I would do this anyway, but I'm lazy too. That's the spiritual battle. It doesn't happen with other books -- I LOVE to read -- which indicates more is going on (to me, at least).
You might also look for podcasts, if that's more your speed. There are a lot of good one's out there pertaining to the Word and Bible studies.
FWIW.
Post a Comment