The Bible is not like any other book that we read. Most books are designed to be read from page one until the last page or so. Novels read well reading chapter after chapter successively but not the Bible. When we read the word of God we need to not start in Genesis and end in Revelation. While Genesis is interesting if you teach a child to read the Bible in this manner by the time they get to Leviticus they will never want to read the Bible again. While every book of the Bible has interesting material to train and equip us we need to look at the Bible differently.
When I started my students reading and interacting with the Word of God we started in the New Testament. We need to know as much as we can about Jesus if we are going to do what he said. When we are making disciples as he told us to do in Matthew 28:19 we like to quote the first part: "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,". We do not like the rest of the commission which says:
20 "and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Obeying the teachings of Jesus is far more challenging. Again, if we are going to obey the teachings of Christ we have know what he said and did. This is why I teach children first to read the new testament. You can not obey what you do not know. The presentation of Jesus is clearest in the New Testament.
I am challenging my students to be reading the apostle Johns writings. We are finishing the Gospel of John and moving into 1 John this week. I want to get accustomed to the writing style of John and read everything he wrote. As you read for the journaling I use the word w-o-r-d for our interaction. For the W- as you finish reading carefully decide what verse or two stand out the most and write that verse in your journal.
Our current reading: August 18: John 20
19: John 21
20: 1 John 1
21: 1 John 2
22: 1 John 3
23: 1 John 4
24: 1 John 5
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