Use the Whole Brain Part 2

I wanted to add some more thoughts from the last post on using your whole brain when reading the Bible.

First and foremost, you need to be reading your Bible. J.I. Packer said, "Any Christian worth his salt ought to read the Bible from cover to cover every year." Reading the Bible is important if you are going to grow as a disciple and in your faith. Romans 10:17 says, "Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ." So we must lay a foundation of reading the Scriptures everyday, if we want to grow in our faith. But this must not just become a chore. Yes, it needs to be a habit, but it can not become boring.

As humans, we can get caught up in routines so much that a lot of life is lived out of habits. I fold my shorts a certain way so that when I pull them out of the drawer I can put them on without thinking about it whether there is a light on or not. But if my wife folds them a different way, when I pull them out of the drawer I will put them on backwards because I do not pay attention. It is such a habit to go to the drawer pull out my shorts and put them on that I don't even think about it. Folding them different creates an adventure because now I have to think. This is what I want to see when it comes to reading God's Word. It cannot become mindless ritual. It must be a new adventure everyday.

We will go through valley's as we read and we will have our mountain top experiences as we read, thats understandable. But sometimes we get so caught up in reading or praying in a certain place that we lock our creative juices up and it becomes a mindless ritual. The Bible is alive and needs to be read that way. We must unlock the David in all of us (read the Psalms). He had such wonder and awe for God. He asked questions and talked to God like He was a friend. And do you know what? God desires for you to think and ask and talk to Him like David did.

There is so much more in the Word of God if we would let it come alive. As we have been walking through our sermon series, "Love God..." based off of Mark 12:30 and a book by Mark Batterson called "Primal" it has challenged us to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. But what does that really mean? Most of us don't take time to ask God what it really means. We read over it and don't give it a second thought. We can quote it to others but we ourselves have no clue what it means. Let us question and meditate on His Word. He will reveal great truths to us as we read.

You may need to get Scripture on your MP3 player and go for a walk while listening to the Word being read. You may need to play Scripture as you are driving. You may need to get out of the office and read in the sun or by a stream. Don't get locked into mindless repitition. Let God unleash a desire in you for the Word to come alive.

So when I talk about reading creatively through the Bible, we must let the Bible be what it was written to be... Hebrews 4:12, "For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." I don't want us to read the Bible out of mindless repitition like I put on my shorts and miss out on what God wants to say.

I am also by no means saying read your own thoughts and meaning into the Bible. I am simply saying that we need to let our minds wonder onto the wonder and awe of who God is as we read the Bible.