This is number four in my “Back to the Bible series.” I believe the solution to the turmoil of todays uncivilized socio-political discourse begins with rediscovering the Biblical mandate to “let God be true and every man a liar.” Romans 3:4
I want to tell you some really practical and simple steps to Bible engagement. What good does it do to be able to defend the authenticity of scripture if you have never read it? To promote something you don’t experience is like excitedly telling your friends about a restaurant that you have never eaten at. Keep in mind, the advice I am going to give is mostly that… “my advice.” If you have a Bible engagement plan that is working for you, great, I’m not trying to change it.
It might surprise you to know that most Americans have a positive view of the Bible. According to surveys of both Christians and non Christians, thirty-seven percent say the Bible is helpful today, while a similar number call it life-changing (35 percent) or true (36 percent). Half (52 percent) say the Bible is a good source for morals. Few say the Bible is outdated (14 percent), harmful (7 percent), or bigoted (8 percent). More than half of Americans think the Bible has too little influence on a culture they see in moral decline. What might not surprise you is that only one in five Americans read the Bible on a regular basis.
The Center for Bible Engagement, surveyed two hundred thousand people worldwide and had discovered that the life of someone who engages scripture four or more times a week looks radically and positively different from the life of someone who does not. In fact, the lives of Christians who do not engage the Bible most days of the week are statistically the same as the lives of non-believers.
So here’s five things you need to know about joining me in “Getting Back to the Bible.”
- Understand that habit trumps will power.
John Ortberg says, “habits eat will power for lunch.” I heard this quote recently while listening to the audio book, “Your Future Self Will Thank You,” by Drew Dyck. Drew talks about merging on to an interstate for the first time in his Dad’s Cadillac twenty years ago; he was terrified, gripping the steering wheel, making sure his hands were at nine o’clock and three o’clock, checking mirrors and looking over his shoulder mechanically and methodically. He had to think about every movement. Twenty years later merging into speeding traffic is a thoughtless non-experience. Why, because it’s now a habit.
There’s a biological explanation for this. (I’m amazed at how the church ignores biology when trying to train us in spirituality.) God has given you a prefrontal cortex in your brain for decision making. The prefrontal cortex lights up when you have to process new information and make a decision about what you are going to do with that information. For example, if you decide you are going to read your Bible the first thing in the morning, your prefrontal cortex is going to light up like a Christmas tree with all kinds of comparative questions like, “what about your social media?” “Are you going to be late for work?” “Shouldn’t you watch the news so you can know what’s going on in the world today?” “Is this going to be boring?” “Wouldn’t that article on pitchers and catchers reporting for spring training be more interesting than, ‘Abraham was the father of Isaac. Isaac was the father of Jacob. Jacob was the father of Judah and his brothers.3 Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah (whose mother was Tamar). Perez was the father of Hezron. Hezron was the father of Ram, etc., etc?’” Matthew 1:2-3 (NLT2)
That God created neurological process is important, so we will involuntarily weigh out all your options when faced with important decisions. Sometimes, however, you need to tell you prefrontal cortex, also known as “the flesh,” “shut up, we’re going to obey God today and do what he says do.” What you will discover is that something magical happens after a couple of weeks of reading the Bible every morning. What was once a thought about a decision moves to a different part of the brain called the Basal Ganglia. The Basal Ganglia is where life controlling habits are stored. When information moves to the habit center of your brain, you will do the practice almost without thinking.
2. Start reading in the Book of Luke, then go to the Book of Acts.
More than anything in the world, you need to know Jesus and after that you need to know about the Church of Jesus Christ in the earth. Along with reading the book of Luke and the Book of Acts watch the videos in “The Bible Project.” Here’s the link: gospel-series
Don’t let the fact that the Bible Project looks like it’s made for children throw you off. You are going to love it. They guys at the Bible project will explain to you the big story of scripture, and that is critical. The intellectually sounding word, and God knows I love intellectually sounding words, is “metanarrative.” It simply means God’s big story. You know that boring sounding lineage I told you about in the last section, well they’ it’s interesting when you see stuff like how a prostitute got into the lineage of Jesus Christ and how this all leads to knowing that Israel’s Messiah has shown up to save the world and that you and I have the opportunity to be a part of something VERY BIG.
3. Set a timer (I use my phone) for fifteen minutes every morning and start reading.
I think it’s better to measure how long you read rather than how much. We’re not in a contest to see who can read the most chapters in the Bible. Now having said that if you want to use one of those YouVersion reading plans, do so by all means, my only concern for those of you that don’t have the Bible engagement habit yet is that you’ll get discouraged when you fall behind. Keep in mind I am writing this for people who don’t have the Bible engagement habit yet or have struggled, like I have, to be consistent with Bible reading.
4. Read for both application as well as the “Big Story.”
The narrative of scripture is a big part of how you get daily fuel for you journey. Fuel for the road comes from seeing yourself, your situation, people, circumstances, or just concerns that occupy your mind in the words and stories of scripture. For example, when you read the story of Mary’s encounter with the Angel Gabriel, you might ask yourself, what is the Divine opportunity that God is offering to let me participate in today? Applications comes from picturing, personalizing, and defining a principle in a Bible passage. Later, you may want to move into note taking and journaling but I’d rather see you start with a simple commitment at first.
5. Only cultivate one new habit at a time.
Some of you are probably thinking, “what about prayer?” “What about fasting?” “What about note taking/journaling?” “What about sharing insights with others?” Hold it, if you try to add multiple new spiritual disciplines the chances of you sticking with any of them drops precipitously. Forming habits is very hard, so do one at a time. Each new habit you form builds your willpower muscle and will increase your chances of succeeding at the next new practice. Willpower is a limited resource, use it wisely.
6. Type “scriptures on _________________,” into an internet search engine as questions, problems and situations come up during your day.
This is the third leg of the Bible engagement stool. It’s the third leg of a stool that makes it stable, right? The first leg of the Bible engagement stool is metanarrative, (the big story), the second leg is narrative, (discovering your story) and the third leg is “reference knowledge.” This is so you will know God’s point of view on anger, peace, faith, fear, lust, self control, money, generosity, relationships, sex, marriage, etc. If you just read your chapters every morning it will take you years to acquire broad “reference knowledge” and you need “reference knowledge” NOW!
It’s the twenty first century folks, you should all be attending Internet University. Good and smart people have literally catalogued and categorized every single word in the Bible for you. A treasure trove of encouragement, insight and wisdom is waiting to make you successful and bring you closer to God. I have always loved the hook in the old Gentleman’s Wearhouse commercial, “you’re going to like the way you look.”
