Walking With Christ

Everybody loves the “Jesus loves you” and “you’re gonna be ok” messages.  There are plenty of verses in the bible that this type of message can be pulled from.  This is theologically correct and good to build the faith of the reader.  It’s good to encourage people with this kind of message.

What isn’t good is to avoid the difficult conversations or hard to teach books because we are afraid of offending or confusing people.  If it offends, good!  This means that either someone is wrong or questions need to be answered.  Ask questions and examine your life with a microscope.

If the message confuses people, that’s also good.  Let them ask questions.  Let them challenge assumptions and false beliefs.  Let them find their thirst for truth, knowledge, and deeper wisdom as those things lead to a closer relationship with Jesus.

There are a few books of the bible that are in almost every sermon you hear.  Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Romans, Hebrews, etc.  Even Revelation gets a lot of time because even the perpetually uncurious is compelled to listen when the talk turns to the end of times and what to expect.

What about books like Obadiah with it’s one chapter and 21 verses?  I would think that most people wouldn’t be willing to admit that they didn’t know that was even a book in the bible.

Song of Solomon?  It’s difficult to talk about this book much at all with children present because the poetic language evokes a lot of images that don’t need to be explained to young children.  Even taking much of the language in a more literal sense, this is still a very sensual book that speaks strongly about a subject that just seems to be taboo to most people.

Leviticus?  This book is extremely heavy on laws and rituals.  Many of which seem outdated today and are a bit difficult to apply to modern life.  It might seem repetitive and tedious compared to the narrative books in the bible.

Jude?  This book is extremely short (not like Obadiah, but still—25 verses compared to 21) and dense.  This isn’t to mention the fact that there are a lot of extra-biblical references such as the book of Enoch.  The harsh warnings against false teachers can make some people squirm.  Add in the fact that much of this book is completely overshadowed by 2 Peter by similar themes and this book is an easy miss.

How about Lamentations?  If you’re ever in a good mood and want to fix that, read Lamentations.  The repetitive and hopeless feel of much of the poetic lament (hence the name of the book) is enough to ruin even the best of moods.  This is not an uplifting book which makes it almost impossible to craft an encouraging message.

The whole bible is good—the parts you don’t like, the parts you disagree with, the parts that are boring, and even the parts that hold your feet to the fire just a bit.  Those parts that make you wince just a bit with shame when you look in the mirror are just the Holy Spirit tapping you on the shoulder to say, “I love you more than you love this sin.”

I found my love of reading while listening to a woman read The Great Gadsby to our class because she hated the book.  It was the most boring book she had ever read, yet she still read it will a zeal that had you hanging on her every word.  Let your love of Jesus, His word, and the bible push you to, not only read, but fall in love with those verses that force you to do work, to change, to think, to refocus just to see the words on the page, because just like the flaws you love in the one person you love the most, they wouldn’t be complete without them.  They wouldn’t be the same without them.  You would be less complete without them.

Loving someone does not mean that you get to pick and choose which parts of them you want to keep.  It’s the same with the bible.

Obadiah teaches us about God’s justice and sovereignty over nations plus the consequences of pride and betrayal.  It foreshadows Christ’s kingdom.

Son of Solomon teaches the sanctity of marriage and God’s design for love and intimacy.  It teaches a level of passion that most people never achieve but should strive to.  It counters culture’s distortion of love and sex with a biblical view of raw passion, commitment, and devotion.

Leviticus truly reveals God’s holiness and the need for our atonement.  It points directly to Christ as the fulfillment of the law (Hebrews 10:1-10) and explains the sacrificial system that Jesus completes on the cross.

Jude is vital, almost essential, for fighting against false teachings.  It gives an incredibly strong call to persevere in faith.  It also contains one of the most beautiful doxologies in verses 24 and 25.

Lamentations teaches about grief and repentance.  It shows God’s faithfulness even in the midst of judgement (Lamentations 3:22-23).  It is also essential for understanding the suffering caused by sin.

If you want to learn to read the bible in a new light, I challenge you to learn to love the parts of the bible that you don’t enjoy.  Find the wisdom and truth in the parts of the bible with the most dust on them.  Even the bible has a road less travelled.  Some of the greatest messages you’ll ever receive can be found in those pages if you’re willing to be humble enough to listen as the Holy Spirit speaks.