Rocking with Daniel

I know this blog doesn't fit the current theme of Galatians and is very different than most blogs, but it is a moment I wanted to remember, so I put it here anyway.

My little boy is all wiggles and squirms.  He thinks he can crawl and lunges for anything within a five foot radius of his little hands.  Yesterday, his incessant reaching found him falling face first out of his Bumbo chair where he laid prone and kicking in anger until I rescued him. 

 

He loves to explore. Today, when we ventured outside, he pulled grass out of our yard by the handful and tried to eat a leaf before I pried it from his tiny fist.  He giggles and yells.  He loves when daddy comes home.  He kicks all the time – especially in the bath sending water flying in all directions.  He is never still.

 

Except when he is tired.

 

When my sweet baby is tired, he looks for Mama.  His lip quivering, his arms reaching, he stretches his body for me.  And he cuddles into my arms resting his head against my neck.  He fits me like a puzzle piece.  His blonde hair soft against my cheek, his long baby legs draped across my lap.  We rock.  I hold him, and I wish time could stop.  He is only five months old, but he is getting bigger.  He seems to grow by the hour, and I know a day will come when he won’t fit so perfectly in my arms – when he won’t want to fit there.  A day will also come, God willing, when he won’t be the only baby in my heart.  Other children will call and cry.  There will be more than one to put to bed, and our nights might not be as peaceful.  But right now, tonight, he is my only boy.  He is my heart.  And as we rock, I breathe in the sweet fresh smell of him, brush a kiss against his soft baby skin, and thank God that he is mine and that I have been given the chance to be his mama.

Because it isn't always about dinner...

Galatians 2:11-21

When we were first married, Andy and I really struggled with communication.  My favorite example of our struggle happened one night when we had just arrived home from a trip to Greenville.  After the four hour drive, we stopped at the grocery store so I could buy food for dinner.  As we were unloading our bags and groceries at home, our neighbor came over and invited us to eat at his daughter’s first birthday.  They were serving lasagna and had enough food for us.  I was tired from the weekend and didn’t want to socialize with a lot of people I didn’t know.  I also didn’t like lasagna, so I declined saying that I had just bought groceries and was about to cook dinner.  Our sweet neighbor suggested that we at least come by and take a plate to eat later in the week. 

 

Andy and I went inside our house and I started pulling out pots and pans to cook dinner.  Andy told me that he thought he’d go over to the neighbors as invited.  I assumed he was going over to get a plate to go and to chat with some new people, so I nodded my head and he left.  He came back about thirty minutes later and told me about all the people he had met and also that he had eaten some lasagna.  My husband is a big eater, and our dinner still had an hour in the oven, so I thought his lasagna was an appetizer to the meal he knew I was cooking. You can imagine my surprise when I took our dinner out of the oven, set the places, called him for supper, and had him respond, “Remember I already had lasagna?”  We had a fight.  From my perspective, he had gone and eatem dinner after seeing that I was cooking – how rude!  From his perspective, he told me he was going to go to the party and I nodded my head, so why was I mad he had eaten there?[1] We were both angry and it wasn’t really about the lasagna – it never really is about the food, is it? 

 

The passage in Galatians today is another one of those instances where dinner posed a big problem – and it wasn’t exactly about the food.  Here is the basic story: Peter (also called Cephas in this passage) shows up at the church at Antioch – a church where Jewish and Gentile Christians fellowship well together – and he freely eats and socializes with all the believers.  Then “certain people come from James” and all of a sudden Peter withdraws from the Gentiles because, as the text says, he was afraid of the visitors.  Most likely, he is afraid of what these Jews will think about him eating and hanging out with the Gentiles.  You see, prior to Jesus, Jews did not socialize with Gentiles.  Gentiles did not practice Jewish customs and laws and the lack of attention to that system made a friendship between the two difficult.  After Jesus came and instituted a new system of faith, it became possible for the two groups to mingle and find unity, and the church at Antioch was enjoying that new freedom.

 

Peter well understood the freedom offered in this new relationship because God had spoken to him directly about his new ability to eat with Gentile believers in Acts 10.  In this passage, Peter had a vision directly from the Lord concerning food that is clean and unclean.  According to Jewish law, Peter told the Lord in his vision that he would not eat food that was not clean.  God responded, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”  Again, it really wasn’t all about the food…in fact, God used the vision to prepare Peter to visit a Gentile believer, eat at his house, and share the gospel in such a way that the Holy Spirit was poured out on the Gentiles – to the astonishment of Jewish Christians.  The Lord wasn’t talking to Peter as much about food as he was about the fact that in Christ all people are equal and that the Lord does not show favoritism.

 

It is funny, then, that Peter is the one who is intimidated by the Jewish visitors to Antioch because he is the one who had learned most directly that how and with whom he eats is no longer important.  The text isn’t completely clear about why he changed his habits except to say that he was afraid of the visitors.  Most likely, he wanted to be accepted by this group from Jerusalem – he wanted to keep their respect, and they were conservative to the point that they believed eating with Gentiles was still wrong.  The big problem with Peter changing his habits, though, is that he was a leader in the church.  So when he stopped eating with the Gentiles, the other Jews stopped eating with them, too, until there was division in a church that had previously been united.

 

It sounds silly that this church started to fall apart over food, just like it sounds silly that Andy and I fought over lasagna from a 1 year olds birthday party.  But, the truth is that we have all been in these situations that aren’t exactly about the superficial issue.  We have a baby and stop going to church.  We say it is because we are trying to get a consistent nap schedule and services fall right in that window – we have devotions at home instead and tell ourselves that is enough.  We are lying to ourselves and avoiding verses like Hebrews 10:24-25 which tell us not to give up meeting together and encouraging one another.  You see, it isn’t really about the baby and his nap schedule – it is really about Satan pulling us away from a community of believers.  And it isn’t only about ourselves.  When weaker Christians see us avoiding fellowship, they may think a baby’s schedule should outweigh what the Lord created the church to be.

 

Take another example.  Our spouse becomes hard to love.  They are disrespectful and selfish.  We fight all the time.  We definitely have “irreconcilable differences,” and we don’t see how the marriage will work.  So we walk away.  We tell ourselves that they love their job more than us and are essentially having an affair with work, which would qualify as grounds for divorce in the Bible.  We are ignoring verses about how God hates divorce (Malachi 2:16), and we are showing younger married Christians that marriage isn’t as sacred as God says it is.

 

These are big examples, but consider smaller ones…we gossip, we tell a “white lie,” we avoid someone in need, we cut another car off in traffic.  In all those situations, we are not representing Christ well, and most likely someone is watching us.  It may be a weaker believer or a seeker or our own child in the backseat, but someone has eyes on us, and we are swaying their faith – for good or bad.  You see, it isn’t about the action itself.   It is about setting an example.  It is about being who Christ told us to be so that when the world looks at us, they see Jesus.

 

Paul understood the implications of Peter changing his eating habits, and he had the wisdom to call his friend out about it.  Thanks to Paul, the church at Antioch was put back on track.  We will all have times where we struggle with our actions.  We will mess up and make mistakes for sure – we will do so regularly.  So, as we work to remember that our actions should always point to our Savior, we should also work to surround ourselves with other believers who will put us back on track when we get lost.

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[1] As an interesting side note I later learned that our neighbor Todd, who had been married a few years, made Andy a big “to go” plate for both of us when he arrived.  I guess Todd knew that if your wife is at home cooking dinner, you shouldn’t eat at the neighbor’s house.  Later Todd joked that he could not believe Andy had eaten the entire plate before he could wrap it up for him to take home.

You say to-may-toes, I say to-mah-toes...Let's NOT call the whole thing off

Galatians 2:1-10

Andy and I have been looking for a church in Winston-Salem, and the process is awful.  I hate it.  I was actually talking to a friend about it yesterday, and she made such a great point.  She said, “Don’t you feel terrible when you are trying to find a church?  I mean, you are essentially church shopping – making judgments and evaluating programs.  It makes you feel awful.”  This friend perfectly put into words what I hate about the process of finding a new church.  It does make me feel terrible.  We have visited four different churches now as we have been here a month, and honestly, it is clear they all have a heart for God and love the Lord.  I can see they are full of wonderful, sincere people.  None of them have had quite the things I’ve wanted in a community, but all of them would be places we could find the Lord and meet Christian friends, so the fact that we are still weighing pros and cons and looking feels terrible!

 

This week, Andy and I had a lunch date where we discussed our church search again.  There is a certain denomination in Winston that gets recommended over and over.  I’m usually not picky about denominations.  My mom’s family is mostly Catholic, I was raised Methodist but basically grew up going to Baptist programs and youth group, and our church in Charlotte was non-denominational.  But the denomination that has been recommended consistently to us is one that I struggle with.  It is a denomination that absolutely embraces freedom in Christ and is known to be much less conservative than other Christian denominations.  Additionally, there are some pieces of their doctrine concerning the salvation experience that I don’t believe are necessarily Biblically wrong, but just don’t match up to how I interpret the Bible.  Neither issue is critical to the gospel message.  I completely understand the reasons freedom is practiced so liberally and the scripture used to support the lifestyle, and I also understand their views on salvation and why, according to the word, they believe those things.  I just feel like a fish out of water when I think about adopting those views for myself. 

 

Andy and I talked about the possibility of joining this type of church.  In fact, one of the churches I liked most in our search happens to be part of the denomination, so I was working hard to keep my mind open to going in a different direction with our church search.  As we weighed pros and cons, though, I think it just became more and more clear to me that the way I practice my faith and the way I want to raise Daniel to practice his, probably won’t match well with the beliefs in this denomination.  It is crazy because it is a denomination that holds tightly to scripture and is very analytical about God’s word and intentional to practice it well.  Nothing they believe is inconsistent with the Bible.  We just go about our practice differently, and while I can have unity with these believers, I don’t think I can raise my child in the denomination and feel at home.

 

The differences I have with members of this denomination are like the differences between the Jewish and Gentile Christians.  In Galatians 2:1-10, Paul is showing the unity he has with the Jewish Christian leaders, John, Peter, and James.  He is illustrating this point to the Galatians to show them that the Jewish legalizers, who were trying to convince the Galatians to follow Jewish law, were false teachers.  He wants the Galatians to understand that even the Jewish leaders in the Christian church did not believe Gentiles (or anyone) had to practice Jewish law to be saved.  Both the Jewish Christian leaders and the leaders in the Gentile church (Paul and Barnabas) agreed that salvation was found only in Jesus.  However, they both worked with groups of people who needed the message to be delivered and practiced differently – and they were ok with that.

 

The Jewish Christians had followed centuries of laws to find unity with God.  They needed to hear that those laws and traditions were no longer necessary to have communion with God, but they also needed to be free to practice traditions that helped them feel close to God.  So, if being circumcised, or praying several specific prayers daily, or practicing particular habits at the temple helped them feel God’s presence, they needed to know that was ok.  On the other hand, the Gentiles, who had never practiced strict laws, needed to know that coming to Christ was easy and that there weren’t a million things they had to do or not do.  They needed to know that they only had to believe in Jesus to be saved.  The background and history of each of these groups needed to be recognized and not discounted as the gospel was shared with them.  Coming to Christ needed to mean that they didn’t lose who they were but were allowed to live more freely as themselves.

 

What is awesome about this passage is that both groups of leaders can easily see that the other is preaching truth, encourage one another in that truth, and be comfortable to walk their separate ways.  They don’t spend their time arguing about who is doing it right or who is practicing it wrong.  They see, instead, that they are united where it matters. 

 

I think it is important to remember unity today, too.  It becomes so easy to judge other believers or other churches and evaluate what we think they are doing right or wrong, but the truth is that there are a lot of right ways.  On the other hand, I think it is perfectly ok for us to acknowledge that, while there are a lot of right ways, every way doesn’t have to be right for us.  The Jewish people were not called to be Gentiles and the Gentiles were not called to be Jews – that is not what Christianity meant for either group.  So, as Andy and I continue our church search, I want to be able to see the beautiful unity I share with all the groups we visit, but I also want to give myself grace to go where God calls me and to recognize that if I feel uncomfortable with certain practices, that is ok, too.

Changing Your Style: Galatians 1:12-24

What do you think? Belt or no belt?
(This photo was actually taken so that I could send it to my girlfriends for opinions.)

My friend, Sara, wears belts.  She wears them really well.  She has a ton of different kinds and colors, and she wears them a variety of ways.  Sara is really famous for wearing a belt on the outside of a cardigan, and it looks so cute on her.  I’ve tried wearing belts like she does.  I especially tried doing it when I was pregnant to accentuate the fact that I had a baby bump and wasn’t just plain fat, but it didn’t work for me.  Andy actually died laughing one morning when I came out dressed for church wearing a belt on top of my bump.  It looked adorable in the Motherhood catalog on all the other pregnant ladies, but I guess it looked ridiculous on me because it just didn’t fit my style.  And, frankly, it is really hard for a girl to change her style.  If you’ve ever tried, you know exactly what I mean.  The sweatshirt wearing, yoga pant loving lady who puts on a dress and heels for the first time draws as many comments as the preppy, monogrammed obsessed woman who dresses down for the day.  A radical style change just doesn’t typically happen in the female world.

 

I love Galatians 1:11-24 because it recounts Paul’s salvation experience which always reminds me of a girl who radically changes her clothing style.  Paul, prior to being called by God, was a serious Jew.  Read his resume in his own words: “Circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church, as for righteousness based on the law, faultless” (Philippians 3:4-6).  Those laws we talked about in the last blog?  Paul was keeping this as well as anyone could.  In fact, he was devoting his entire life to keeping the laws.  Furthermore, he was “protecting” his religion by severely and radically persecuting the new followers of Jesus.  Then, all of a sudden, in the midst of his life, Jesus showed up and changed his entire world.

 

Jesus, who had already died and been raised to life, spoke to Paul on his way to Damascus.  He instructed Paul to stop persecuting Christians and instead believe in Christ and preach his message to the Gentiles – people with whom Paul would have previously never associated.  Additionally, Paul was given a new name.  Prior to the encounter, his name was “Saul.”[1]  So, all of a sudden, God has given him a new religion, a new purpose, and a new name.  What a day!

 

Here is what I love about Paul:  He wasn’t afraid to just go with it.  God called him, so he changed his ways and followed.  In verses 15 and 16, he says, “But when God, who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, my immediate response was not to consult any human being.”  I don’t know about you, but I care a lot about what people think.  I wasn’t even able to wear a belt on my baby bump because my husband (who knows very little about fashion for the record) thought it was strange.  I cannot imagine throwing away everything I had made my life about for the past 30 years and radically following God in a new direction.  I mean, it seems like the kind of thing you should ask your friends about. 

 

What is great about Paul is that he doesn’t ask his friends.  He heard clearly from God and he followed the call right away without wasting the time to consult others.  I love that.   I am all about asking for wise advice and Godly counsel.  I think situations exist when soliciting opinions is completely appropriate.  But, there are also times when God has spoken so clearly that we need to stop dragging our feet or worrying about what other people think and just follow.

 

There have been a few times in my life when God has led me in a direction so clearly that I knew I didn’t need advice.  Those were the times when confidently following was the right course of action, and those were the times when I experienced God most intimately.  It is hard to go in a brand new direction – especially one that might shock our friends or might solicit some well-intentioned pushback from those who love us.  It is not always easy to go where we are led, but the times where it is not easy are also the times when the most reward is likely possible.  And if we are like Paul, we will eventually hear it said of us, “And they praised God because of me” (Galatians 1:24).

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[1] In high school, I had a friend who had a really normal first name and a somewhat eccentric middle name.  She swore that when she went to college, she was going to reinvent herself and go by her middle name.  I don’t know what happened there, but I remember thinking it was so strange to think people knowing her by an entirely different name than I did.  I mean, can anyone imagine if I just decided that I would be called Marie and started introducing myself that way to everyone?  Try pulling that one off!

A New Way: Galatians 1:6-10

Galatians 1:6-10

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel – which is really no gospel at all.

When I first started teaching, I had a chalkboard.  I’m not kidding.  In 2007, I gained a classroom with two chalkboards, a lot of chalk, and a sturdy overhead projector with Vis-à-vis markers.  I taught that way for a year before I was given a whiteboard, and then after a few years, I gained a cart with a computer/projector and document camera to replace my overhead projector.  I cannot describe my enthusiasm when we got those carts.  No more chalk dust on my pants,  no more purple hands from the Vis-à-vis markers, no more copying handouts on transparencies.  With the cart and document camera, I could project any handout immediately.  A student could write an essay in her notebook, and it could be shown to the class for editing immediately.  I could type notes and show instructional videos with the click of a button.  It was amazing – a whole new world of teaching and the freedom to instantly do activities that would have taken hours of planning (or even been impossible) previously.  After having that type of technology, I NEVER wanted to return to the old way of teaching. 

After doing something the hard way and then experiencing the easy way, it is difficult to imagine ever going back.  But, returning to the old way is exactly what the Galatians were doing.  Prior to Jesus, the Jews had participated in all kinds of laws set forth by God to make them acceptable in his presence.  God was so holy that in order to commune with him, the people must also be holy.  So, they had to do things that would set them apart from the sinfulness around them – they were circumcised to show they were set apart and dedicated to God, they participated in sacrifice to atone for their sins, they went through procedures for entering the temple and obeyed rules for who could and could not enter depending on how “clean” they were.  The laws were impossible for people to keep perfectly, so God made another way for them – a better way. 

He sent Jesus to be perfect in all the ways they couldn't be.   Jesus was like the designated hitter – he went into the game on their (and our) behalf to do a job people were unable to do because they were just too fragile.  He kept all the rules; he perfectly followed the law; he was holy.  Because he was holy, he could be the sacrifice for us – he could die in our place to gain us entrance into God’s presence.  You see, a perfectly holy person could enter God’s presence because there would be no sin in him.  By contrast, a sinful person was subject to death (Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death”).  Essentially, on the cross, Jesus gave his holiness to us and took our sin, which caused him to die.  Because he died, we can live.  That means that even though we will physically die, we will then be able to live with Christ because we will die covered in his holiness.[1]

It is a crazy concept, and I have a hard time wrapping my mind around it, so I’m not sure my explanation was totally clear.  The bottom line, though, is that once Jesus came, everyone was freed from the old law.  We no longer need sacrifices to atone for sin or procedures to enter God’s presence because when God looks at us, he sees Jesus’ holiness instead of our sinfulness.  We are clean because he was clean.  Pretty awesome.

Here is what is not awesome, though.  The Galatians, who had accepted Jesus’s sacrifice and the corresponding freedom, were now listening to a group of conservative Jews who were teaching them that they had to live under the law to be right with God.  Jesus came so that they could be free from all the old laws that weren't good enough anyway, but they were choosing to live as if he had not come at all.  As if his sacrifice wasn't good enough.

I love Paul’s response to them.  He says, “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel – which is really no gospel at all” (Galatians 1:6-7).  According to the Zondervan commentary, the Greek word used for “deserting” could be the same word used to describe a military revolt.  I find it interesting that this word can be taken so aggressively.  Paul considered the actions the Galatians were taking to be a revolt against the plan God gave them in Christ.

Today, we may not be sacrificing animals to atone for our sin or staying out of church based on a number of bodily conditions that would make us “unclean,” but we do still try to follow rules in the belief that doing so will make us acceptable to God.  How many people do you know who would say, “I’m a good person.  I don’t steal or kill or cheat on my spouse.  I am honest, I help people when I can, I don’t swear.  I am sure I will go to heaven.”  Or worse, “Of course I’m a Christian.  I go to church, I tithe, I attend Bible Study, I read The Jesus Storybook to my kids.”  The fact is that both statements are a lie and a revolt against God.  Ephesians 2:8-9 says “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.”  What we do or don’t do doesn't matter.  The ONLY way we are good enough is because of Jesus and his gift of grace.  To believe that there is any other way to be made right with God is nothing short of tragic.  We can look like a good person, or even a Christian, all we want but without understanding that Christ is all we need, we are not ok and never will be. 

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[1] John 11:25-26 says “Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life.  Anyone who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.’”  Notice the prerequisite to being covered in Jesus’s holiness is to believe in his sacrifice.  Without believing, we don’t get to assume his holiness and we will not find eternal life.

Galatians 1:1-5

"Paul, an apostle - sent not with a human commission nor by human authority, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead." Galatians 1:1

Galatians 1:1-5

The first five verses of Galatians make up the introduction.  Unlike our letters today, the names of both the sender and recipient are at the beginning of the letter.  In these verses we learn that Paul is writing to the churches in Galatia[1]. 

 

In this letter, Paul is confronting some drama in the Galatian church. Stirring up trouble are some conservative Jewish Christians who have come to the area challenging Paul’s credibility as an apostle and his teachings about freedom in Christ.  These Jews have been so successful with their arguments that the Galatians, who were previously living in joy and free from the Jewish law, are now beginning to submit themselves to it.  Obviously, Paul is concerned about this backsliding , and he is writing to remind the Galatians of their freedom, but first he has to regain his credibility with them.

 

In the context, then, the first verse of the passage stands out to me most.  In it, Paul identifies himself as commissioned “by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead.”  Remember, his credibility has been challenged.  The conservative Jews are claiming that Paul never even met Jesus and therefore couldn’t be reliable.  It is true that Paul had not experienced the same relationship with Jesus while he was on earth that the other apostles had, but Paul had still met with Jesus in a calling that changed him and led him away from persecuting the church to teaching Gentiles about freedom in Christ.  Paul is reiterating that although his relationship with Christ began differently than that of the other apostles, it doesn’t mean that he isn’t sharing the truth. 

 

This verse is convicting for me because I have often been like the Jewish trouble makers believing that someone who is a leader in the church should have a certain type of resume.  As an example, just this week, I was researching churches in Winston Salem in an ongoing church search process.  We had met a couple who went to a church that is located near our home, so I pulled it up and began reading everything I could find on their website about their beliefs, staff,  programs – anything.   I came across their pastor’s biography, and in the first few lines, I discovered he had a business degree from Chapel Hill and worked in sales for 12 years before becoming a minister.  Immediately, I was turned off.  A salesman from a liberal college?  What could he possibly know about being an effective minister?  I have no idea why that was my knee-jerk reaction.  My pastor in Charlotte was awesome, and he was a basketball player from Carolina.  Regardless, the prejudice was there and reluctantly, I decided to listen to one of his sermons.  Boy, was I wrong about him.  His message exuded humility, wisdom, and incredible knowledge.  His church has moved to the top of our “must try” list.

 

I think it is important to consider a leader’s background and training, but I think it is equally important to remember that our Lord can equip anyone he chooses to share his truth.  No special qualifications are needed to be used by God, which means that it is ultimately more important to analyze the message than the messenger.  And this is Paul’s request to the Galatians – that they put their focus only on Jesus and his truth.

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[1] As an interesting side note, it is not completely clear to scholars what is meant by “Galatia.”  Apparently, the name was first assumed by a group of people who settled in Macedonia and the northern Asia Minor but later these people were invaded by the Romans who conquered not only their land but also surrounding territory and gave the name “Galatia” to the entire province.  It seems that many scholars (and the commentary I read) believe that Paul was actually writing to a church he had established in the Southern region of the province and not to the original Galatians who would have been in the Northern region.

 

How do I study the Bible?

How do I study the Bible?  This is a question I’ve had more than one person ask me in the past year alone, and it is a question I never quite know how to answer.  The truth is that I don’t have a good process for studying the Bible.  In fact, I pretty much stink at studying anything.  It is fortunate that I made it through college without having to do much of it!  But, as I’ve gotten to know people of different walks of life and backgrounds in the faith, I’ve also discovered that I also take for granted certain tools I’ve gained over the years.  So, I wanted to do a series of blogs on the book of Galatians.  I’ve decided to do this series for two reasons.  One, because I desperately need to get back involved in the Bible myself (this is a practice that has gone on the backburner since having Daniel), and two, because I want to try to analyze my process for studying the Bible and hope to show what study looks like.

 

This first blog will be more about my process, and I’ll start to get into the scripture in the second blog.  Let’s start with some FAQs.

 

1. How do I decide where to start studying?

If this is your first time studying the Bible, I’d suggest picking a plan that is doable.  There are lots of plans and places to start, but my suggestion would be to start with a book of the Bible. Which book to pick probably depends on personal preference and how much Biblical knowledge you already have.  For example, if you hate poetry, Psalms would probably be a hard book to navigate.  If you don’t have any working knowledge of scholarly views on the end times, Revelation might feel overwhelming and confusing.  If you know very little about Old Testament times, Numbers would not be enjoyable (though I’m really not sure that Numbers is EVER an enjoyable read!).  Choosing randomly is probably just not wise.  Here are some of my favorites:

 

Mark – This is the shortest gospel and scholars actually believe that the other gospel writers probably had access to Mark when they wrote their accounts.  It is a good introduction to Jesus and his life and wouldn’t take too long to read.

 

James – This book is written by Jesus’ half brother.  It definitely packs a punch as James doesn’t mince words.  It is pretty straight forward, but also has some cool underlying themes, too, that would come up as you read commentaries.  Added benefit – it is short!

 

Genesis  - This one would introduce you to the patriarchs (which is just a fancy way of saying the fathers of our faith).  It helps you get a handle on big time Christian figures like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph.  It also helps you see how the Jewish nation was established – which is REALLY helpful when reading the New Testament.  Additionally, it reads like a story with a lot of family drama thrown in, so that is fun.  On the downside, it is long, so it might be best to just pick a section of it.

 

Those would probably be my three top places to start, but obviously, there are a lot of other good ones.  They are really all good, right?

 

2. What do I need to study the Bible?  So, the “church” answer is just your Bible.  But, frankly, I don’t do very well with only my Bible.  It helps me a lot to also have a commentary because, let’s face it, we all inevitably end up in passages we don’t understand which inhibit us from moving forward.  Commentaries go a long way toward helping clear up confusion.

 

I also like having a way to take notes.  My favorite way to take notes is in the margins of my Bible, so I bought a Bible with extra wide margins.  I like this method because when I’m in church listening to a sermon on a passage, I have at my fingertips other things I’ve learned about that same passage to help put all the pieces together.  The disadvantage here is that the margins fill up, and at some point, I’ll have to get a new Bible and start over (though mine has lasted for five years and is still going strong).  I also have friends who use journals and notebooks.  And the computer works well too.  I used the app “Evernote” for a while because it organizes notes pretty neatly, and I could take my IPad to services to record what I was learning.

 

3. What do I need to know about commentaries? I have no doubt that when I mentioned commentaries someone was reading and wishing I’d given more detail, so here it is!  A commentary is just a resource someone else has written giving their opinion of scripture.  One caution about commentaries is that they are NOT NECESSARILY RIGHT.  A commentary is different than scripture in that it isn’t the holy word.  It is just one person’s opinion, so when reading, you have to remember to analyze it yourself for truth – and you should do the same when listening to a pastor’s sermon.

 

Nevertheless, if I’m studying, I don’t do it without a commentary.  Andy has an Old Testament and a New Testament commentary produced by Zondervan that I think are good.  I also have an NIV study Bible by Zondervan with a short commentary at the bottom (which is really nice for anyone new to using commentaries as the information is helpful without being overwhelming).  Both options are pricey, though.  A free option would be to use Biblegateway.com which has online commentaries – just look under the “resources” tab.  The Matthew Henry one is a bit of a hard read but some of the others are easier.  One last option that isn’t free but good and not terribly expensive is anything by William Barclay.  You can find his commentaries on Kindle or even in hardback for less than ten dollars.  I like him and think he is really easy to understand, but I also don’t agree with all his theology – primarily his beliefs about heaven/hell – so you’d probably have to be a critical reader if you pick him (in my opinion).

 

4. How much should I read at a time?

For the book of Galatians, I decided to read it all the way through to get a concept of the overall themes, and when I blog, I’ll go back and read it with the commentary to understand the details.  I don’t think I’d recommend that strategy unless you were reading a short book like James.  A good process is probably to read sections at a time and then go back and read the commentary for that section and make notes as you do that.  Most Bibles have headings lumping together natural breaks in topics – so I’d start with those.

 

5. What am I looking for?

I’m stealing from Joe Cox on this one (and I bet he stole it from someone else).  Joe is a pastor and a friend.  I worked for him when he was a youth minister at a church in Greenville, and one year, he had us do this process with the kids we lead in small groups.  It was called VIBE.   It stands for the following:

 

V – Verse it.  As you read, you ask God to highlight a verse or phrase in the passage that sticks with you.  It is an effort to hear from God and look for what he is saying through scripture.  Honestly, I don’t think I hear from God every time on that, so don’t get discouraged if something just isn’t sticking out.  On the other hand, don’t be afraid to look for what God might be saying.  If you find something that sticks out, you can use it to meditate on throughout the day – you never know how God will use the scripture he has revealed to encourage you or someone else.

 

I – Investigate it.  This is where the commentary comes in for me, but I remember when Joe taught this method, he discouraged the use of other materials.  He encouraged us to just look at the passage for anything that might be repeated or emphasized.  He also encouraged us to look for what is going on.  As an English teacher, this part would be my Who, What, When, Where, Why, How questions about the text.

 

B – Boil it down.  This is where you try to go deeper with the text.  What was the message for the audience in that time period and what is the message to us?  Basically, how do we apply this scripture to our lives today?  This could also be personal – what is the Lord wanting YOU to hear in this passage?  How does it apply to whatever is going on in your own life?

 

E – Engage it with Prayer.  At the end, you write a prayer to God in response to what you learned in the scripture.  On a good day, I always end my study session with prayer.  It is a chance to reflect with the Lord and ask him to show me his truth throughout the day.

 

This blog is getting longer than I intended, so I’m going to cut it off here.  I think it does cover my process for study, and I’m hoping that my blogs on Galatians will provide more insight on the way I study – and will hold me accountable to following through!  Happy Reading!!

I'm so thankful...

Laura Mabry nominated me on Facebook to post 3 positive comments a day for 7 days.  I am TERRIBLE at following a routine like that so I decided to calculate how many positive comments that would be and just include them on my blog.  It needs attention anyway! So, here are 21 things for which I am thankful.

 

1. The Lord and his great faithfulness to me and my family.

 

2. My sweet husband.  Dating was such a frustrating experience for me, and there were times when I thought I’d never meet the man God had planned for me.  It always amazes me to think that even though we didn’t date until I was out of college, God did introduce me to Andy when I was only 18.  I’m also so thankful for the blessing that he is in my life and for all the ways he is far and away the best match for me.  There is no one else to whom I’d rather be married.

 

3. My precious baby boy.  I love his sweet smile and his giggles and the way he cuddles into me when he is tired.  He lights up my life.  I had no idea I could love someone the way I love him, and I am thankful every day for the chance to be his mama.

 

4. My family.  I’m thankful for how I was raised and for how close we are as a family even though we don’t live in the same place anymore.  I feel blessed and proud to be a Vaughn, and I’m thankful for all the ways my parents, brothers, and sisters-in-law enrich my life.

 

5. The opportunity to be a stay-at-home mom.  I don’t know how long this season will last, but I’m thankful for every moment I get to be with Daniel and be home to raise him and see all his little achievements.

 

6. Recent opportunities to work from home.  I also don’t know how these will pan out or how long they will last, but I’m thankful for opportunities to continue to use my teaching experience and work because I’m secretly a little worker-bee.

 

7. Laura Mabry.  It is so nice to have a friend who has known me since middle school.  I am thankful for the ways the Lord has grown our friendship and for the memories we’ve been able to make with one another.  I’m also thankful for her husband and children who have become like my own family.

 

8. My Greenville friends – Emily, Ashley, Sara, Rebecca, and Marianne.  Only two of them still live in Greenville, but this is where we met.  I’m thankful for the ways we have walked with each other for the past 12 years.  They truly represent the body of Christ to me and a picture of what the church should look like.  Words do not do this group justice.  Suffice it to say I’m simply blessed to call them my friends as I know bonds like these are rare.

 

9. My Charlotte Bible Study.  My friend from Charlotte, Laura Smith, and I were discussing how God puts people like these in our lives for only a season at times, but what a beautiful season it was.  They made it so easy for me to learn to love Charlotte and helped me through my homesickness for Greenville and my first year of marriage.  They gave me encouragement that new relationships in Winston are possible.

 

10. Jennifer Hemink.  I’m thankful for her smile and her laughter and the way she always sees the positives in life.  I’m thankful to call her my buddy!

 

11. My health and the health of my family.

 

12. My in-laws who raised a fantastic son and who help and support us so much.

 

13. My FCHS coworkers who taught me what it was to support one another and find humor in the most challenging of situations.

 

14. My MPHS coworkers who welcomed me with open arms and gave me the autonomy to grow in my career.

 

15. The fact that summer is almost over and fall is coming – so ready for pumpkins and cooler weather!!

 

16. Indoor appliances.  My oven has been out of commission for the past week, and having to figure out how to cook without it has made me so much more thankful for it!  And for the nice repair guy who at least rigged it so I could use my stove.

 

17. Tervis Tumblers…ok, now I’m really working for it (I should not have put all my favorite people in big groups!!).  But I really like these little cups and how they keep my drink so cold.

 

18. Daniel’s sound machine that is keeping him happy and asleep while I struggle with the end of this blog.

 

19. For all the beautiful pictures my friend Sara Davis takes and for the joy they bring when I see them in my home.

 

20. The internet – it is amazing how much easier it makes my life to just search for answers to questions or recipes or whatever

 

21. Whoever invented GPS.  Wow!  It sure makes learning my way around a new town much easier – speaking as someone who has done that twice in the past two years now!