Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Foreign.
[00:00:08] Pastor Chuck here. And welcome back to another weekday podcast. This week we started yesterday, so if you missed it, catch back up with yesterday's weekday podcast because we're talking about how do we better understand the Bible? How do we better read it? How do we better understand it? More importantly, how do we live it?
[00:00:28] So welcome back to the weekday podcast. I'm Chuck Allen, and yesterday we talked about the Bible as a living conversation. Today, I want to invite you into a different way of reading scripture, one that trades pressure for wonder.
[00:00:41] A lot of us were taught to come to the Bible with this low grade anxiety.
[00:00:46] Am I reading this right? Did I interpret the verse correctly? What if I missed something?
[00:00:52] What if what I think I understand disagrees with the preacher that I heard? I mean, on and on and on.
[00:01:00] Well, before we've even read a word, what can happen is we can already be bracing for failure.
[00:01:06] But what if the word of God, what if the Bible wasn't meant to be a test that you pass or fail? What if it's more like a sunrise? Something that you sit with, something that you watch, something you receive, something that kind of warms your soul?
[00:01:23] Psalm 19 puts it this way. The heavens proclaim the glory of God and the skies display his craftsmanship. Now that's not an exam question. That's just an invitation to all the skies don't give you a multiple choice test. They give you beauty, they give you color, they give you motion, they give you light. They proclaim the glory of God by just being what God created them to be. So when you open your Bible and you start reading, whether it's on a tablet or a phone or a hard copy, a paperback, a leather bound, whatever it is, is.
[00:02:00] Just keep this in mind when you open your Bible.
[00:02:04] What if your primary goal wasn't to get it all right, but to just let it all end?
[00:02:10] To get super practical the next time you sit with Scripture. Instead of asking, what's the right answer here, start by asking, what is beautiful here?
[00:02:22] What is surprising?
[00:02:24] What stirs something in me?
[00:02:26] Maybe you're reading a psalm and one line jumps out. Maybe you're in the Gospels and a small detail in the story catches your attention. A gesture, a word, a look from Jesus. Just pause there and let curiosity guide you.
[00:02:41] Wonder is not the opposite of truth. Wonder is often the doorway into it. Curiosity is a beautiful way to read the Bible. What was going on? What? What was the context? What does Jesus mean? What is the writer trying to convey? We see this in Jesus's teaching style. All the Time. He doesn't lecture with bullet points or PowerPoint. He tells stories. He talks about farmers and seeds, lost sheep and lost sons, tiny mustard seeds that somehow become massive trees. Jesus knows that stories bypass our defenses and awake our imagination.
[00:03:22] So if Jesus himself used story to help us see, wouldn't it make sense that the Bible is filled with narrative poetry, letters and images that pull us in? You see, the Bible helps us here because it puts those ancient words into language that feels like conversation, not legal code or IRS code.
[00:03:45] That's why I like to teach and preach and read from the new living translation. I just love how it reads.
[00:03:51] Occasionally. I really enjoy reading Eugene Peterson's the Message because there are quotes inside of there that I think people might argue. Maybe it's not ideal, but they speak to me. Let the word of God speak to you. Let me give you a picture. Imagine you're standing the edge of the Grand Canyon. Nobody stands there and says, now what's the correct interpretation of this rock face?
[00:04:15] No, you just stand there and you go, wow, you're moved, you're quiet, you're small. And yet, somehow you also feel seen.
[00:04:24] That's what reading the Bible with wonder can feel like. You step into something bigger than you. You realize this story has been going on for generations, and yet God is inviting you into it right now.
[00:04:37] So this. Does. Does this mean that we don't care about good theology or wise interpretation? Well, of course not, y'. All. We need to handle Scripture with care. But if we rush straight through to analysis and never allow awe, we end up with heads full of information and hearts that are still empty.
[00:04:56] Here's. Here's an experiment that you could probably try.
[00:05:00] Pick one short passage, maybe like Psalm 19 or a few verses from one of Jesus's parables. Read it slowly. Then ask yourself three questions. One, what word or phrase stirs something in me?
[00:05:16] Number two. What does this passage make me feel? Comforted? Challenged? Confused? Inspired?
[00:05:23] Number three, what does this passage invite me to notice and see about God in my everyday life?
[00:05:31] Those three help us because we don't need to have perfect answers. The point is that you let your heart and your imagination be wildly involved, not just your intellectual.
[00:05:43] I've watched folks who felt totally defeated by reading the Bible come alive again. When they gave themselves permission to wonder, they stopped treating the Bible like a cold textbook and started experiencing it as a warm, living, breathing word.
[00:05:59] I've heard these words before. I always assumed that I had to be a scholar to really get the Bible. But once I started reading slowly with curiosity. And then I realize I don't have to be a scholar. I just have to be there. You just have to be present. And that presence, y' all showing up with an open heart is where God does some of his best work. So today, as you go into your schedule and responsibilities, carry this simple shift with you, less worry, more wonder, less pressure, more presence. You may not understand every verse you read, and that's okay.
[00:06:36] You're not reading alone. The same spirit who inspired scripture walks with you as you read.
[00:06:43] So we'll be back tomorrow and we're going to talk a little bit about the Bible and how it functions as a mirror in our life. Thanks so much for listening to the weekday podcast and look forward to tomorrow. The Bible when it works like a mirror, showing us things about ourselves we might otherwise never see. I'm Chuck Allen, Grace and Peace. And thanks so much for joining me on today's weekday podcast. Bye now.
