Category: reading tips

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It is Good to Break Bread Together

And it is good when that bread is topped with cheese and marinara sauce.

That’s what we’ll be doing this Sunday after our late service at church to celebrate the end of our first quarter. One of the goals of Year in the Bible, I guess second only to the obvious reading of the Bible, is doing so together. This Sunday will remind us that we do not undertake such a task alone. We learn better together, we grow more together, we’re better challenged together. We should not take for granted the great cloud of witnesses we’ve been blessed with by being a lone ranger. We need each other.

Some of you have been a part of a small group or a Bible study that is reading along with one another, but others do not have that weekly contact. This luncheon can be a place to rub shoulders with brothers and sisters, hear about their experience, and enjoy the company.

We’ll also get a short review of all we’ve done as well as some words of introduction to the summer quarter. So come out if you can, this Sunday, June 24th. We’ll have pizza and salad. Let me know if you will be coming.

For those unable to join in this fun, let me encourage you, if you haven’t already, to find someone to partner with in this study of God’s Word. Share your experiences, your questions, your joys, and frustrations. Reading God’s Word is great, but doing so as the church is even better.

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More on the Importance of Attention

I wrote recently that our attention is one of our most valuable possessions, and we should be very careful in regards to what takes our attention. In my reading I came across a couple more articles that help encourage this point, as well as one that emphasizes the value of memorization. One is a quicker overview citing sources like the book The Information Diet, Scientific American, and Time Magazine. The second is the cited article on memorization from Scientific American. Here’s a quote from that article from memory whiz, Ed Cooke, about the value added by using memorization and associated techniques:

Gradually the memory technique gives way—having acted like a scaffold—and you just know the contents. There are other positive things about this: the process of learning forces a depth of pattern perception that means you *truly* engage with the material.

Have you ever memorized verses of the Bible? Or how about asking it like this: Have you memorized any Scripture since being a child in Sunday school classes?

If you have a desire to memorize, let me know. Let’s challenge each other to do so. It’s harder to do it alone, so maybe the two (or more?) of us can do it together and get our brains working hard, in order to better understand and retain God’s Word in us.

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Week 11

We are in the home stretch of this Spring quarter. I hope you can dig deep and finish out strong as we now enter this week into the book of Deuteronomy. We’ve got some longer weeks ahead, but then our last week of quarter one will give us some time to breath as we have a lighter load.

So jump in and get going on that reading today. It makes such a difference if you do even just one chapter a day. That way you’re building up the habit, making God’s Word part of your routine.

This week I’ll post some helpful resources about the Deuteronomy and thoughts on Acts. If you have something you’d like covered, let me know. Deuteronomy is the last of what is called the Pentateuch, or in other words, the first five (penta, like pentagon) books of the Old Testament. Once we finish that book we’ll have read those first five pivotal books of the Old along with two gospels and what amounts to the start of the church in the New Testament in the book of Acts. All that plus over a quarter of the Psalms. Not bad for a quarter.

This is also a great time to be thinking about our summer and asking others to try Year in the Bible along with you, at least for a quarter.

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Contest Winner and More Updates

So you may have wondered if you read a while ago about a book giveaway, what I was waiting for in naming a winner. Well, I was waiting for some participation. What I’ve decided to tell myself is everyone has been too busy reading the Bible instead of going along with the mild ridiculousness of my contest.

I’ve had two calls to action that I can think of–first was that contest and the second was the sweet potato bagging we did to help distribute food for those in need. If I had to choose, I’d say I’m thrilled we had a good number come out to serve.

All that being said, I already have my own copy of The Prodigal God, so I don’t need to keep another one and I need a winner. So the winner is the one who posted a link to some other person’s art that was in reference to the prodigal son: Kevin D. Email me to let me know how to get it to you.

Now that we’re in June I’d like to mention another chance to we have with Year in the Bible to get out and participate. On June 24 we will have a review and preview session as we end one quarter and begin our Summer Quarter. After the second service at Triangle Pres we’ll have lunch together, review some big concepts from our readings, then look ahead to what we’ll see in the months ahead. I’d love to have y’all come out–especially if you’re reading on your own. It’s great to see that you’re not alone and others are doing the same thing. And if you have any specific questions you’d want addressed on the 24th, you’ve got a couple weeks to let me know.

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Spending “One Pomodoro” in the Word

There are so many productivity methods and time management techniques out there and somehow they are all the key to unlocking a better you. I am more of the camp that you may work differently than I work, so for each technique, results may vary.

I came across one recently called the Pomodoro Technique, which takes its name from the Italian for tomato and is centered on using a little tomato kitchen timer. I am not about to turn this site into a guide on how to “get things done” so I won’t go into great detail, but this technique got me thinking about our time spent reading God’s Word.

In this system a pomodoro is a unit of time, 25 minutes. Simply put, you break down tasks in measures of pomodoros, and you take breaks between each one. You have a task, you set your timer, and you work on it for 25 minutes.

In our culture of non-stop multitasking, how often do we focus on one task for 25 minutes without interruption? Can you watch a half hour TV show without doing something else at the same time? Even just in writing this, I hear the dings of an email that I want to turn my attention toward. I trick myself into thinking everything must be done in the immediate, all at once, but the truth is: it can wait.

Is that your experience as you sit down to read, study, and pray? How often do you begin reading the Word and something interrupts? How long does it take? Ten minutes? Five? Does even one minute go by before something else seeks to take your attention? Our attention is one of the most valuable things we have, and who or what we give it to is a very important decision. And sometimes that decision isn’t only to what do we give attention, but what do we ignore? We can’t give our attention to everything all the time.

Try at least once this week to carve out 25 minutes, if only just to show that you can. I think we’ll be amazed at what we can do with “one pomodoro” of uninterrupted time spent before God, reading the Bible.

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Week 9

A Plague Inflicted on Israel While Eating the Quails; as in Numbers 11:31-34; illustration from the 1728 Figures de la Bible; image courtesy Bizzell Bible Collection, University of Oklahoma Libraries (from Wikipedia)

The Old Testament begins with book names that can sometimes obscure what they’re about. But it is pretty simple so far. Genesis was the beginning. It was the beginning of creation, of God’s story of dealing with that creation, and the beginning of his very own people. Exodus was Israel leaving slavery in Egypt. Leviticus is the law for the levites, continuing the law given to the people in Exodus. Now we come to Numbers. What’s that about? Want a hint?

Numbers 1:2, “Take a census of all the congregation of the people of Israel…”

That’s right there in the beginning of the book as God commands Moses to take a census, to number the people. It is a continuation of the story from Exodus, which began with their delivery from slavery, as God now numbers his people and prepares them to journey into the promised land.

Meanwhile in the New Testament…

Luke finishes this week and offers another opportunity, after already having read through John, to contemplate the surprising ending to the gospel story. It may not surprise us now, as we have heard it and read it before. But the people surrounding Jesus did not expect him to go to the cross. Who would expect a messiah, God incarnate, one who had such power, to be crucified like a criminal? Read it slowly with a renewed appreciation for the great humility of God to submit himself to such punishment to save the very people who deny him and yell, “crucify him!”

Also, keep in mind that what follows next week is the book of Acts, written by the same person. Try to keep Luke in mind once we begin Acts to see how they connect.

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Reinforce What You Read

So this Sweet Potato event is almost upon us. We’ve had a handful of folks who plan to get their hands dirty bagging some produce, and just so you know, it’s not too late. You can still register yourself and meet us out there.

But I bring this up as another reading tip for you. Whatever you can do to add action to reading will add depth to the reading. Whether that is a Sweet Potato Double Drop or taking notes in a journal as you read. We are to be doers of the word and if you read through the entire Bible twice, but do not allow it to move through your eyes, into your brain, and down and out your arms and legs, you’re missing out.

If you can’t come tomorrow, no worries. There are countless ways to serve that come up in our church and beyond our church. But make it a priority to ask yourself how you can live out the faith we learn of in our readings. Doing so will help us to learn and keep within us God’s Word. We have a great God worthy of love, and we should seek to be holy as he is holy and to love him by doing what he commands.

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Habits of Highly Ineffectual Bible Study

It’s been a little while since I’ve posted some Bible study tips for you, so I thought I’d share this article I came across from The Gospel Coalition by Jen Wilkin. It warns against some of the misguided ways in which we approach God’s Word, such as the “Magic 8 Ball Approach”:

You remember the Magic 8 Ball—it answered your most difficult questions as a child. But you’re an adult now and wondering if you should marry Bob, get a new job, or change your hair color. You give your Bible a vigorous shake and open it to a random page. Placing your finger blindly on a verse, you then read it to see if “signs point to yes.

I’d recommend giving it all a read. She has some great points, and the only caveat I’d add is that I wouldn’t phrase the ending the same way. It is easy to break issues into false dichotomies or react against one problem by pushing too far in the other direction. She defines a disciple as “primarily” a learner, which I think is jut as problematic as “primarily” a doer. We are followers of Jesus, and that consists of learning at his feet AND doing as he commanded.