I Get It. Finally. In the Summer of 2008, I began the journey of reading the Bible through in a year. I have been a Sunday School teacher or BFG teacher for 20 years and yet I don't know that I had read every word of the Bible. Now after completing the journey, I know that I have now, in fact, read every word (even though it ended up taking me 18 months).
As I read every book from Genesis to Revelation, one theme continued to show up no matter where I was reading. It showed up in the Old and New Testaments. It showed up in the historical books as well as the major and minor prophets. It was obvious in the gospels and ever apparent in the episitles.
The theme keeping beating me over the head. The theme suggested that the call to be a follower of Christ was much more demanding and sacrificial than the life that I had been leading. The follower of Christ looked much different than I thought it was supposed to look. As I read, the words of my wise wife keep ringing in my ears. "Jesus took care of the physical needs before he took care of the spiritual needs" she would say.
Scripture after scripture would seem to read, "what are you doing to take care of the poor, the hungry, the naked, and the widows?" It was everywhere. I could not escape it. It was especially tough to read since the answer was invariably, "Nothing". Don't get me wrong, I have been serving in numerous places in the church. I teach two BFG's, serve on the Finance Committee, serve as Deacon, and participate in the Christmas Journey. Those are all great areas of service. The problem is which of these even remotely impacts the poor, needy, sick, widow, etc? None of them. Where was/is my obedience to Matthew 25:31-46?
Correspondingly, I have been reading a book called the "Soul of Money" by Lynne Twist. While I don't agree with everything she says in the book, it does have a common theme with Scripture. "What are you doing to help those in need?"
Then I started reading (actually listening to) "The Hole in Our Gospel" by Richard Stearns. Ouch. I cannot get away. What I have believed to be the Christian life the last 37 years may in fact fall dramatically short of God's desire.
The question remains...What I am going to do about it?
To Be Continued....
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Curtis, I appreciate your candor and your willingness to step out and just be a "real" person who is still searching for exactly what God has for you! I think we all struggle with that -- at least I know I do. I serve in many places in the church and yet, I've wondered as well "is this it?" I guess the answer to my story is the same as yours ... to be continued! Praise God that it will continue for a bit longer.
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