feeling dumb when you read the Bible

Reading the Bible is important for every Christian.  We're told to read, study, and meditate on it.  And as a pastor, I think it's my job to not just read it and know it, but it's also my job to to encourage and enable you to do it.  So this year in youth group, I'm going out of my way to make sure people are reading the Bible.  The leaders are all set up with their DeliberatePeople journals.  They explained it to the students and handed them out to them, as well.  A lot of parents came Sunday night and received one.  We're all going to be reading the same part of the Bible all year, and I think that's great.

But there's a catch.  If you haven't read the Bible much before, you probably aren't familiar with a common occurrence: feeling dumb when you read it.  Sometimes you read something in the Bible, and you're left wondering what it was talking about.  And then you wonder if everyone else gets it, and you're the only one that has trouble.  That's going to happen to a lot of people in and around our youth group this year, maybe for the first time.  Maybe it happened yesterday for the first time.  Here's what we read from Proverbs:



 

Say what?  I think it means that you should be careful to not fall for someone buttering you up and then taking advantage of you, but I'm not sure.  Maybe you read it and weren't sure, either.  It's okay.  You're not as stupid as you thought. Sometimes it's just confusing, but don't let that stop you from reading.

why I'm going old school

I like using my phone for everything.  When I go on mission trips, retreats, family vacations, or wherever, I can bring my one slim phone and leave behind my camera, video camera, Bible, and computer.  I have access to all of that stuff on one device.  At first, it was new and shiny to me, and I thought it was great.  Then last year around this time, I started doing my devotions exclusively on my phone.  It was easy.  It was always around.  I never forgot it at work.  I even got pop up reminders to read my Bible from the YouVersion app, which was pretty cool.  So I could never say, "I forgot to read my Bible today."  I had to consciously choose to miss it, and yes, sometimes I did.

But the thing about my phone is I get a lot of notifications, and I find them distracting.  I'm told when it's my turn to play a game, when someone tweets at me, when someone texts me, or obviously when someone's calling me.  I find this distracting.  I would usually not leave my Bible app to tend to those things, but then it would be on my mind.  My attention was split between what I was doing and responding, so I'd read faster and spend less time in thought.  I noticed, so I quit reading on my phone primarily.  But I still used YouVersion's plans to remind me and tell me what to read.  And there was my phone.  Now I wasn't looking at it, but it made sounds, it buzzed, it flashed lights at me.  I had put down the phone, but I still knew someone wanted me to do something, and my attention was torn.

So I'm done.  I'm going old school.  No, I'm not pulling out my old KJV.  But I'm going read the same Bible for the next three years, and I'm going to wear it out.  I'm going to highlight it.  I'm going to write in it.  I'll have a little binder with my reading plan and paper to write longer notes.   I'll keep my phone off or in a different room, so it can no longer distract me, and I'll get more out of it then when I rush it.  I'm not saying that it's wrong to use a phone app to read your Bible, assuming you can handle it.  But I can't handle the distractions.  I'm weak in this area.  Would it be a greater show of strength to overcome my weakness or to acknowledge my weakness and avoid situations that enable failure?  I'm going to try to avoid the possibility of failing.

So why three years?  Because it's going to be a kid's Bible, and I'm going to give it to Jakob.  He'll be able to read by then, and he'll be able to see that I don't just tell him to read the Bible.  I read it, too.  Then I'll take a teen study Bible and do it again, and I'll give it to him when he's ready.  And then I'll take a study Bible and do it again, and I'll give it to him when he graduates from high school.  For the rest of Jakob's life, I want him to see that I'm reading the Bible, not possibly reading it or playing games or surfing the web.  My Christian life is personal, but it's not just about me.  It never was, but it is less so now more than ever.  I'm leading my son, and I want to more intentionally beat down a clear path for him to follow.  I want him to be able follow me as I follow Christ.

the boy who told the truth

It's not easy to do the right thing when it seems everyone else isn't.  In the Bible, we see that out of all the Jews taken in the Babylonian Exile, only 3 refused to bow to Nebuchadnezzar's statue.  In Washington, we see that only one man is willing to stand up and...just kidding.  I have no desire to write about politics ever.

Last week, I got to help run a youth camp program in Muskegon with my friends Amy and Todd.  It was a new experience for me, and it was really fun.  One kid stood out to me on two separate occasions.  One was good, one was not.  On Wednesday, he and I had a run in when he openly disrespected me.  Up to that point, he had been pretty respectful and was enjoying himself.  So we had some words, most of which came from me, and we parted ways.  We were fine, though, and he continued coming the rest of the week.  That was the first time he stood out to me, and to be honest, it made the next time even more surprising.

On Friday, something happened.  I noticed that a group of older guys was sitting off to the side, refusing to engage with the rest of the group.  Amy knew why, but I hadn't heard yet.  This middle school guy had been hanging around them the whole week, trying to be accepted into their group.  He wanted to be cool to them and followed them around a lot.  They actually accepted him into their little circle and let him in on a secret: they had been doing bad things that week: destructive things.  They were bragging about it.  Now he had a choice to make.  Did he want to be cool or let someone know?  I think that most kids - and frankly, most adults - would have kept their mouths shut.  You know, because snitches get stitches.  But not this kid.  He went and told Amy what had happened, because it needed to be done.  He chose the uncool way out, and on Friday, he was out of the group.

After I had all the details, I went and found him, and we had some more words, with most of them coming from me again.  If I pulled him aside to express disappointed in the way he behaved earlier in the week, I was going to be sure to pull him aside and tell him how impressed with him and proud of him I was this time.  And that's something you should do.  If you don't take time to praise the good things and right decisions someone makes, you should probably bite your tongue and not criticize or correct them, either.

specks and logs and judging others

We are all probably familiar with the verses that talk about removing the log from your own eye before worrying about the speck in someone else's eye.  Right?  Because when someone points out an area of concern in our lives, it's a pretty quick retort to throw out there. There's that and the often misused, "judge not, lest ye be judged."  People love the King James Version when they're trying to convict others with the Bible, I suppose.  These happen to be back-to-back in the Bible, found in Matthew 7, and I want to take a minute to look at how they actually apply to our lives.  First, let's read the verses:

"“1 Judge not, that you be not judged. 2  For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. 3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye."

Judge not.  You can't judge me.  Who are you to say that what I'm doing is sin?  The first two statements are accurate, but that last one is a misapplication.  Saying that something is a sin is not judging.  It is reiterating what God has already written, and He's also commanded us as Christians to hold each other accountable to following what He's written, so we should slow our high and mighty roll before throwing it out inaccurately.  So what does it really mean?  To judge someone means to pass judgement.  Get it?  It's a little redundant, but people still miss it.  If I were to say, "Having sex outside of marriage is a sin," I wouldn't be judging anything or anyone.  I'd be stating a Biblical fact.  Now, if I were to say, "If you are having sex outside of marriage, God should not bless you in any way, and you should not be forgiven and get to go to Heaven," I'd be adjudicating a sentence for your sin.  That's judging.  Now I'm taking God's place as Judge, and I am by actions asking God to hold me to the same standards of judgment I'm using.  So first, remember that there's a difference between identifying what the Bible has clearly called sin and passing judgment or condemnation for the sinner.

Now, about those specks and logs.  My brother and I were recently tweeting back and forth about this, because we're really hip and use twitter.  If someone were to say to you, "Hey, you really shouldn't be getting drunk like that," you might be tempted to throw out, "Why don't you worry about the log in your eye before worrying about the speck in mine?"  We've heard it a lot, especially recently, and it rubs us the wrong way like a cat being grabbed by the tail and pet backwards straight up his back.  It just bugs me.  You know why?  Because it is true that I need to worry about the sin in my life, but you're not supposed to compare yourself to me.  You're supposed to emulate Jesus.  So you should never let the log in my eye or anyone else's eye keep you from pulling the speck out of yours.  If someone points out a sin in my life, I would hope I'd be humble enough to bite my tongue, look at myself, and address the issue.  I want to grieve my sin just like Jesus does.  I want to hate my sin so much that even the specks bother me.  You know why?  Because if the only sins I were ever guilty of were specks, it would still require Jesus' blood to pay my penalty and give me life in Heaven.

If we are ever to grow as Christians, we're going to need each other to hold us accountable.  Iron sharpens iron.  Iron doesn't tell iron not to judge it.  It accepts the friction and grows as a result.  We need to grow thicker skin and stop pretending to be offended when someone points out our sin.  Let's stop deflecting and just clean the specks and the logs out of our eyes, so we can see Jesus more clearly in our lives.

 

Sunday gives me the funniest quotes

We all know that kids say the best stuff.  Why?  Because they're unfiltered.  I get to spend time with elementary students on many Sunday mornings, and I hang out with teenagers on Sunday nights.  I always seem to have something funny to share with Sarah, and it's usually something a kid said.  This weekend was no exception.  I taught elementary, and although I didn't teach, I was at youth group.  Here are the two top quotes from this weekend that caught me off guard and made me laugh.

Josh, 5th grade

Me: Does anyone know any gross Bible stories?
Josh:  Adam and Eve in the garden
Me:  You think that was a gross story?
Josh:  Yeah, they were naked.  That's nasty.

Carter, 8th grade

"What's that cologne you wear?  It's the one that you have a bottle of on your desk.  Cause you smell like an angel."  Yup, he was talking to me.

 

If I remember, I'll continue to share these, but I almost never blog what I say I'll blog, so I'm making no promises.

fading glory

Our youth group just recently returned from our mission trip to Greenville, South Carolina, and I can say confidently that I have never seen God move more in one week in my life.  I invite you to come Sunday night at 6:00 to youth group, so you can hear all about it.  But that's not why I'm writing.  In a sense, this was a typical week of Christian camp.  We went, we were saturated with the Word of God and worshipping Him, and we all took at least one step closer to Him in the process.  That happens.  But do you know what else normally happens?  After drawing closer to God while away, we tend to fade at least a little further away from Him when we return.

In Exodus 34, Moses climbs up Mount Sinai and spends time in the presence of God.  He received instructions on how God wanted His people to worship Him.  When he returned to the bottom of the mountain, he realized his face was glowing.  He was radiating God's glory.  It was obvious.  But over time, that faded.  Eventually, he just had plain old Moses face.  The longer he was out of God's presence, the more it faded.  Our faces didn't glow when we returned from Greenville, but our spirits did.  Our demeanor was different and more reflective of God.  It can stay like that, if we continue to come into the presence of God on a daily basis, but it can also fade away, just as Moses' face slowly faded, if we do not choose to stay before God.

When was the last time you found yourself experiencing God's glory from being in His presence?  Has the glory faded?  Have you spent too long away from Him?  As Christians, we've been given authority to enter boldly before the throne of God.  Maybe we should spend more time there.  Don't do it one time a week or one week per Summer.  Make it a habit.  Make it a normal hang out.

I wish I could tell you

Last week was one of the most amazing weeks in ministry I have ever experienced.  It may have been the greatest week.  I wish I could write a post covering every good thing that happened, but I could not, because you may not read it.  It would be the longest post of my life.  Here's what I will tell you: I prayed specifically for some kids who I knew needed it, and God reached them.  I prayed specifically each day we were gone as I saw issues arising, and God took care of them.  We saw two students come to Christ, another five decide to recommit themselves to God, and twenty-five out of twenty-five people - including the adults - acknowledge that they had experienced God in a real way and had drawn closer to Him.

Starting next week, I will give you a glimpse into what we were dealing with by posting the devotions I wrote each day for church group devotions.  Sometimes unknowingly to me, what was said addressed specifically what someone was struggling with.  God just works like that.  You can also join us on Sunday night, July 29, to hear from students and leaders about how God moved in their lives.  The recap service will take place from 6-8 in the church's Theatre.