Opinion
Try delving deeper into the bible
Catherine Ayre remembers buying “pick and mix” sweets from Woolworth, but is wary of applying the same technique to her bible reading.
Recently, I prayed this prayer: “Don’t let me have a pick and mix Christianity, but let me embrace the whole council of God through your Word.”
Too often as Christians we do just that – take bits from the Bible like a scripture here and a scripture there and not look it up in context. I have been guilty of this in the past and every now and then, particularly when I have a time constraint, I find myself returning to this way of just glancing at the Word.
There is a beauty in reading a good chunk of scripture and entering into it, as well as slowly reading it, meditating on it and seeking to understand it. It is so good that God has deposited in believers His Holy Spirit as a Helper in this process, because frankly without Him, the Bible could be a dry read, let alone one that is at times incomprehensible.
My story is that the Bible really became alive to me when I came to Norfolk! Why? You may ask. It certainly wasn’t the cleaner air or the slower pace, however good that is. It was when I got introduced to The Way of The Spirit Bible reading courses. These lifted the Bible off the page for me, so to speak, and I found the question/answer approach so refreshing as it gave me new ideas and revelation always with a view to walking it out in my life.
This approach particularly works for me, and it certainly covers the whole council of God, although there are many excellent resources out there to explore.
It is time to see those who are coming to faith, particularly the younger generation, get to grips with the Bible so that they are prepared to face the coming days. You can never ‘get to the bottom’ of the Bible and so if you yourself have ‘pick and mix’ tendencies, why not get a tool out of the toolbox and start to delve deeper?
The picture is courtesy of pixabay.com
Catherine Ayre, who lives in Norwich, is the author of the poetry book "Heart to Heart". She has a passion to see people connect with God through writing, music and radio.
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