What I’ve been thinking about

Yesterday, I posted about the fact that I’ve been going through a period where it’s felt really fruitfull to spend time in God’s word.  (I think it just about always is fruitfull, but lately it’s also felt that way.)

Today, I thought I’d be a bit more specific, both about how I’ve been reading and what I’ve been noticing as I read.

Each morning my alarm rings at about 5:20.  This gives me an extra ten or fifteen minutes.  It’s probably the only time that nobody is up and around, except for an occasionally meowing cat.  Some days, it’s the only part of the day that I don’t have some responsibility calling my name.

And so I’ve usually sat down at the computer with my breakfast.  I’ll check email or the stats on this blog, sometimes, as I munch on a bagle or a chunk of fruit.  Next I go to biblegateway.com and read a chapter.    I’ve been reading them in order. 

I think one of the reasons I’ve been more consistent with this is that I haven’t let this feel like a responsibility.  I’ve taken it seriously, I haven’t skipped a day (I don’t think) but I haven’t put it on my mental to-do list, and treated it like a chore, either.  This wasn’t really a conscious decision, but I know that in the past when I treat bible reading like something I have to do, I first resent it, and soon stop doing it.

I’ve been reading a chapter a day.  I started around the book of acts.  Each morning, I try to think about the chapter before.  I ‘m learning that the progression matters.  Sometimes it’s tempting to treat a chapter of scripture like this isolated island.  But we wouldn’t turn to a random page in a contemporary book and expect it to make much sense out of context of the rest.  Why should a chapter be any different?

What I began to find is that in each chapter there is a phrase or verse that stands out and sticks with me.  I’m not much of a memorize-er.  (I’m not claiming that this is a good thing) I might restate the phrase in my own mind.  But I grab onto it, and carry it with me through the day.

At first I wasn’t looking.  More recently I’ve put a bit of energy and attention into this: reading the chapter with an eye toward a phrase that I will carry with me.  It would be easy for this to overtake the whole thing, and for me to simply skim the chapter with an eye toward some happy, inspiring phrase.  I’m working hard to not do this.

In the last week I’ve been in 1st and 2nd Thesallonians.    I thought I’d share some examples of the sciptures I chose and what they did for me.

1st Thess 4

16For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God

 

I carried this idea with me for a day, a week or so ago.  And somehow, that word “himself” just struck me.  It would be a different sentence, a little bit, if it said “For the Lord will come down…”  That word, “himself” emphasizes the idea that it is the one and the same Jesus who walked the earth, I think.  And this realization made me smile, it somehow connected the gospels with the end times.

 

The next day:

16Be joyful always; 17pray continually; 18give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

 

The day I held these verses close to me might have been a hard day.  But in everything, I tried to do what it said.  What I discovered is that it’s not like a list of three seperate things.  It would be quite hard to only be joyful always, it would be difficult to only pray continually, it’d be quite boring to simply give thanks over and over.

What I found was that they form some sort-of feed back loop.  By praying constantly I am sharing my struggles and in the sharing lessening them.  More than this, in that prayerful state I am particularly focused on thankfullness, which in turn causes me to be joyful.

 

I honestly don’t remember what I chose from 2 Thessalonians 1.  I don’t know if I just read 2 chapters that morning or if the verse that spoke to me in the chapter was just not very memorable compared to the impact of the previous one.

 

2nd thes. 2

Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him,

This was sort-of like that first verse I listed above.  But the idea of being gathered to him struck me as so gentle and loving, which stands in contrast to the explosive, violent, Left-Behindish imagery that it’s easy to associate with returning to Christ.

 

2nd Thessalonians 3

May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance.

 

I spent this day asking God to directing my heart.  The word “directing” is a bit like the word “gathering” it’s a word that is both gentle but not easy to resist.  Also, I like the idea that  it’s God’s love and Christ’s perseverance.  These things are seperate but also the same, love and perseverance.  Much like God and Christ are seperate but also the same… And it’s awesome to realize that God helps me focus on Himself, that I don’t have to do it under my own power. 

 

 I do realize that it’s human nature to avoid verses that don’t make us feel all warm and fuzzy inside.  This is one reason that I think it’s probably really important for this to not to turn into a game of skimming for the verse and ignorning the message of the rest of the chapter.  I also think we abuse God’s word, when we focus on one little verse at the expense of the wider context.

 

Nonetheless, this has been helpful for me. 

So that’s what I’ve been thinking about.  What have you been thinking about?