Read your Bible: An encouragement of God’s gentle leading

Lisa Edwards • Jan 18, 2023

Even after nearly three decades of following Christ, there are still entire books of the Bible I’ve never read.


Every year when New Year’s rolls around again, I make yet another plan on how I’m going to finally start reading the Bible. My guilt-fueled efforts may start out strong, but by the second week of January, they’re already fizzling out. Because once you’ve missed one day of reading, it feels that much more difficult to catch up, and eventually the whole thing feels like a lost cause. My Christmas decorations tend to see more of January than my daily Bible reading plan does.


A source of shame


This constant struggle has been a source of shame for me throughout my life. I know that as a Christian I should be spending daily time in the Word, but why does it always seem so hard to actually do? Shouldn’t I desire to spend time with God and hear what He has to say to me? On the days when I feel guilty about not reading the Bible more, I find that I pray less, too. Withdrawing from God feels easier than facing His (supposed) disappointment in me. It’s as if I can see Him standing with crossed arms, waiting to chastise me for my repeated failure. But the fact that I ever picture Him that way shows that I do not understand the God of the Bible very well.


My kids have helped me understand the character of God better than almost anyone. The love I have for my children helps me realize how God must feel about me, since He’s called me His child too. There are things I’ve taught my kids to do since they were young, daily things like brushing their teeth and picking up after themselves, that I still have to remind them constantly to do. 


Even though they know that they should do these things, that their lives will be better for having done them, they still struggle to do them every day. But when I find toys strewn all over the house or a toothbrush gathering dust on a bathroom counter, often my response is to lovingly remind them what they should do, and to say, “That’s ok, let’s try again.”


Removing barriers


As a parent, I would never prefer that my kids withdraw from me rather than open up and be honest. This is true even when they’re opening up about less than pleasant feelings or are confessing some wrong that they’ve done. And if I, a sinful and selfish earthly parent, feel that way with my kids, how much more patient and loving must God be with me (Matthew 7:11)? 


God proved 2000 years ago how far He was willing to go to enjoy a relationship with me that is unencumbered by my guilt and shame. Why would I then impose a barrier onto my relationship with Jesus when He Himself died to remove that very thing?


It seems that my struggle to read the Bible daily is rooted in a lack of understanding of who God is and how He feels about me. The Spirit has convicted me at this point in my life that if I want to understand the true character of God, then maybe the best way to get to know Him is by reading His Word, where He’s already revealed Himself to me.


That motivation, of a desire to know my God better, is one that is so much sweeter to Him than my previous motivation of guilt, trying to do what I think I’m supposed to in order to be a “good Christian.” God said to the Israelites in Isaiah 1:13 that they should “bring no more vain offerings” before Him. The whole passage illustrates how much God hates when we do things, even things He’s commanded us to do, with the wrong heart motivation. The right heart motivation is one that cares about fulfilling man’s primary purpose: to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. This should be my motivation in reading my Bible each day, and it should be my encouragement to come back and try again when I don’t.


He won't fail us


Again, my children have proven to be a significant help that God has gifted me to aid in this area of my growth. A few months ago, my son told me he wanted to try to read one chapter of the Bible every day and asked if he could read it to me. There’s no way I could say no to that!


Since then, we have finished one book of the Bible and started two more. There have been a few days that we’ve missed, but nearly every day I have gotten to experience diving into the Word with my son and getting to know my Heavenly Father better through his eyes.


God is so faithful to constantly pursue us, and spending time reading His Word is one of the best ways we can pursue Him back. So if you are already feeling discouraged about your resolution to read the Bible more this year, I hope you will remember that God isn’t giving up on you. He’s lovingly saying, “That’s ok, let’s try again."

The Joy of Justification

29 Apr, 2024
Notes from Lance Shumake's sermon on Sunday, April 28, 2024. Sermon text: Romans 5:1-5 We find joy in the blessings brought by justification —peace with God —access to God’s grace Hebrews 4:16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. —hope of the glory of God “Christian hope is not uncertain, like our ordinary everyday hopes about the weather or our health; it is a joyful and confident expectation which rests on the promises of God, as we saw in the case of Abraham. And the object of our hope is the glory of God (2), namely his radiant splendor which will in the end be fully displayed. —John R. W. Stott, The Message of Romans We can even find joy in our sufferings “Various kinds of sufferings will come to us, but we can rejoice in them when we recognize that they serve a purpose: to develop our Christian character. In verses 3b–4 Paul shows how a godly response to suffering can initiate a series of virtues, culminating, strikingly, in hope. Note, however, that Paul is not saying that we should rejoice because of suffering. Evil things are still just that—evil—and we never should be happy about them. But by looking beyond the suffering to its divinely intended end, we still can rejoice in the midst of them.” —Douglas J. Moo, Encountering the Book of Romans —suffering produces endurance “ We know this, especially from the experience of God’s people in every generation. Suffering produces perseverance ( hypomonē , endurance). We could not learn endurance without suffering, because without suffering there would be nothing to endure.” —John R. W. Stott, The Message of Romans —endurance builds character —character gives us confident hope Discipleship Questions: How does it change your outlook on life to know that you have peace with God? In what ways have you experienced the greatness of access to God’s grace? How does future certainty bring us lasting hope? Describe a time when you experienced joy in the midst of suffering. How has God used suffering to grow your faith and mature you? What are some ways you have experienced God’s love being poured into your heart?

The Faith of Father Abraham

22 Apr, 2024
Notes from Lance Shumake's sermon on Sunday, April 21, 2024. Sermon text: Romans 4:13-25 Abraham was not justified by works Abraham was not justified through the law Justification comes through faith alone —by faith we are forgiven of sin —by faith we are credited righteousness —by faith we are Abraham’s offspring Galatians 3:29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise. The faith of Father Abraham… —is trusting God no matter how things appear “Paul next goes on to remind us of the way Abraham believed the promise of God even when all the tangible evidence seemed to point in the other direction. In brief, as Paul succinctly summarizes the matter in verse 18, Abraham believed “against all hope” yet “in hope.” Specifically, he did not allow all the many reasons to distrust God’s promise to weaken his conviction that God would do just what he had promised.” —Douglas J. Moo, Encountering the Book of Romans —is being convinced of God’s power —is taking God at His word —is unwavering, even when we fail “Abraham did not always live out his faith, his obedience was not perfect, his trust fluctuated; but his faith was never extinguished. He hung on to God’s promises even in his own flaws and failings—and as he did so, he “was strengthened in his faith.” He was able to look at a mistake and say: This has reminded me that my only hope is to trust in God’s promise, and trust in God to fulfill that promise.” —Tim Keller, Romans 1-7 For You Discipleship Questions: Spend some time discussing justification and talk about the effects of it on our lives. What are some ways that you trust God in spite of how things appear or how you feel? How have you experienced your faith being strengthened through God’s Word? What are some examples of times you have taken God at His word and acted on it in your life? What do you think it looks like for us to have unwavering faith based on Abraham’s example? 

Footsteps to Faith

17 Apr, 2024
Notes from Scott Sutton's sermon on Sunday, April 14, 2024. Sermon text: Romans 4:1-12 V. 1-3 “What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” Abraham was not justified by works. Paul chooses Abraham as an example because it is likely that at this point some of the listeners, especially the Rabbis, would have thought, “No one has room to boast? What about our Father Abraham?” There was a cultural perspective in the Jewish community about Abraham that can be read in the books of Jubilees and Maccabbees. “Abraham was perfect in his dealings with the Lord and gained favor by his righteousness throughout his life”… and they quoted Genesis 15, the very verse that Paul is using here, saying, “was not Abraham found faithful in temptation, and it was reckoned unto him for righteousness?” So Paul is arguing that Abraham was not justified by works, because many in the Roman church believed that Abraham was justified by works! This isn’t just an emphasis in a few chapters, it is the heart of the whole letter. Paul is saying, “If he was justified by works, then sure, he can boast before God, but he is not!” And there is a phrase in verse 3 that we must make sure not to gloss over. How does Paul prove this point and bring clarity to their error? FOR WHAT DOES THE SCRIPTURE SAY? We must understand the Biblical narrative because the cultural narrative is always changing. Far more wisdom and effort has gone into the canonization of Scripture than has gone into the picking it apart to prove someone’s point in a certain cultural moment in time. Some today argue that they are listening to Jesus, but not the Bible because they are separating what Jesus says and what the Bible says. It’s an argumentation technique to say, “Well, Jesus didn’t say that. Paul did.” And the result is that people present themselves and posture themselves to look like followers of Christ while dismissing how Christ fulfills all of Scripture. So what does Paul say to the Roman church who was struggling with how this Gospel of Jesus was going against their cultural norms? “What do the Scriptures say?” Justification by faith isn’t some new idea in Jesus. In fact, Father Abraham was justified by faith. V. 4 Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. God did not owe Abraham Imagine getting your paycheck and it is labeled “a gift from management”! You would probably say, “No, I earned that! Thank you very much! That’s not a gift. That is my money.” Now imagine, going to God, and saying of your right standing before Him, “No, I earned that! That is mine. You owe it to me!” Paul’s hope for the Roman church, and for us today, is that we would really consider thoughts like that and really reckon with the reality that we cannot earn our justification. Paul is saying, “I know I have already said it and defended it and given Abraham as an example of the reality that we can only be justified by faith, but I am saying it yet another way so that you would search yourself. If God owed Abraham, then maybe God could owe you, and God owes no man. For the wages if sin is death. That is our due. That is what we are owed. V. 5-8 “And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, 6 just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.” Faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. Paul wants the church to see that Jesus is the thread that runs through all of human history. We can see Jesus in the life of Abraham and we can also see Jesus in the life of David. Two of the most prominent figures in Jewish history are who Paul chooses to prove justification by faith alone. When it comes to justification, faith is opposed to work. God justifies the ungodly because there are no godly ones to be justified. When you hear that Faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness, it might be easy to quickly modify that in your mind, and think, “Oh, so Abraham was faithful, and by being faithful, he became righteous… almost like his faithfulness was a substitute for good works…” And that is wrong. There is a HUGE difference between saying “Through faith Abraham became righteous” and “Through faith Abraham was counted as righteous.” It is a judicial reckoning by God. Or for us it is the difference between saying “Now I am righteous” and “Now I am counted as righteous”… Paul wants the church to know that they need something from God that they cannot achieve on their own, and if they are chasing righteousness by trying to live in the right way by saying and doing the right things, they will never find it. You need for God to not count your sin against you. V. 9-12 Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. 10 How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. 11 He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, 12 and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised. Circumcision is a sign. So for those asking, “Was Abraham’s faith counted to him as righteousness before or after the act of circumcision?”, Paul’s answer is simply, “before”. Why? Because it was a sign. Application: Walk in the Footsteps of Faith … Abraham was not ju stified by works… I am not justified by works. God did not owe Abraham anything… God does not owe me anything. Faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness… Faith can be counted to me as righteousness. Circumcision is a sign… By faith in Christ, I am brought into a rich heritage where my story is the story of a people who were only ever justified by faith alone. So rather than resting in my works, I can rest in Christ. Discipleship Questions:  If we know we cannot earn a right standing before God, why do so many of us continue to try? Are there any ways in which you still act and think as if God owes you something? How is circumcision still beneficial to Gentiles in 2024? How does an understanding of the Biblical narrative help us against an ever-changing cultural narrative? Be specific. What are some specific cultural narratives that you and your children struggle with? How does the Biblical narrative help to bring understanding and peace? Why does it matter that your story is the story of a people? Of the 4 footsteps of faith mentioned, which do you struggle with the most? Why? Faith is trusting God's promises. What are some promises that we can lay hold of and rest in?
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