Steeped in Scripture

One of the best images I remember hearing when I started walking with God was that of a teabag steeping in water. A lot of times we want instant results. We can often believe that life should provide immediate rewards for payments we make.

What we see in the Christian life is that it is about slow, arduous, and conforming work.

This can happen in moments. But more often than not, it’s the little moments that, like a potter with the clay, molds. He molds with varied pressures by each finger of his hand. He presses here and release there.

So also with tea.

If you simply drop the teabag in the water and start drinking, you won’t enjoy the tea as much. The longer you let the teabag steep, the richer and deeper the tea.

When it comes to the foundations of the Christian life, I shared that I want our church to re-commit ourselves to devoting ourselves to reading, consuming, and steeping in God’s Word and to re-commit ourselves to one another in reaching out and praying and encouragement from the Scriptures.

One of the practices I have found beneficial for several years has been to read through the Bible each year. This is in no way a new law that demands your obedience. Rather, it is one pilgrim sharing with another pilgrim how he has been helped on the journey.

At the very least, we need to consider our time reading God’s Word as oxygen. As water.

It is not a mandate that you must read everyday.

But to consider the repetitive and mundane joy of sitting down with God.

Listening to him from the Scriptures.

Responding to him in prayer.

The best way to have renewed purpose in your life is to be reminded who you are and who has loved you with an everlasting love. The key here is that you have some kind of plan each day to listen from the Creator of all things beautiful.

Here is a list of three yearly plans to help you have a plan for conformity into the beautiful image of who you already are in Christ.

The Bible Reading Project
I used this one last year and found it immensely helpful. Of particular help were the videos explaining each book thematically. This helps as you read to see various elements highlighted in the text. It walks through the Scripture canonically.

Discipleship Journal
This is the plan I am using this year and have used the most. I like it because you read a portion out of the Old Testament. A psalm. A portion out of the Gospels. A portion from the Epistles. And there are five days where there is no prescribed texts so that you can “catch up” if you need to.

M’Cheyne’s Calendar
This is a little more aggressive plan. The Old Testament is read through once and the Psalms and New Testament are read through twice. Even if you don’t use this plan, I would highly recommend reading M’Cheyne’s words to his congregation at the beginning of the plan to be stirred and focus attention and the heart as to why reading Scripture each day is like balm to the soul.

Let me repeat. This is not to be a new law or a new yoke. Rather, this is an encouragement to face the new year with new resolve to hear from God. The one who loves you and yearns to capture your heart through his Word.