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Theme of the Week: Beyond Book Learning
Eugene Peterson
Tuesday, October 5, 2004
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Key Bible Verse: I listen carefully to what God the Lord is saying, for he speaks peace to his people, his faithful ones (Psalm 85:8). Bonus Reading:Psalm 119:13–16
Most pastors and teachers I know are dismayed by the marginal place of the Bible among those under their care. They consider it essential to guide the adults and children in their sanctuaries and classrooms not only to read the Bible but to read it rightly. They embrace this work, but find it unendingly difficult.
This seems exceedingly odd, for the Bible wasn't written for a highly educated upper class. It's not a difficult book that only "smart" people can get. In fact, most of the first "readers" of the Bible couldn't read. They were stonemasons, housewives, grapepickers, and fishermen who listened to it being read by a rare one in the community who could read. This was not a book to be studied at a schoolroom desk; it was to be listened to and lived. This book wasn't valued because it held tons of information to be looked up; it formed their understanding of who they were and who God is.
As they listened, they ex-perienced the words personally. Their lives were formed in trust and love, hope and obedience. They didn't know more, they became more. [continued 10/6]
—Eugene Peterson in Reading the Bible for the Love of God
My Response: How could my Bible reading be skewed by reliance on footnotes and commentaries?
Thought to Apply: When you read God's Word, you must constantly be saying to yourself, "It is talking to me, and about me."
—Søren Kierkegaard (Danish theologian)
Adapted from Reading the Bible for the Love of God (Brazos, 2003) by permission.
Copyright © 2004 Christianity Today. Click
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Lord, help my time in Your Word move beyond a head exercise to a true heart encounter.
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