Ephesians 4:17-24; 2 Corinthians 3:18-4:6
A few weeks ago, I started meeting with another group for our church’s Discovery Class. It’s for anyone interested in Christianity Baptism and/or church membership. We get together and talk about the Christian life. No question is out of bounds. We can talk about anything.
One area of discussion I always enjoy is our talk about the Bible itself. I ask questions like “What do you think of the Bible? What’s your experience with it? How do you find it to read? I want honest answer. I want to hear what people actually experience with the Bible.
They’ve shared things like “Some parts of the Bible are hard to understand. Some seems completely irrelevant. Why are there lists of laws? Some parts seem hard to believe.”
Some of you maybe have little or no experience with the Bible. If you were to share honestly with the person beside you about your Bible reading journey, you might share some ups and downs. Maybe you find it boring. Maybe you seldom read it. Maybe it’s a chore or you think it’s not very relevant. Some of you might believe the Bible is only accessible to the super-spiritual or those with special training. Or you might desire to understand the Bible more deeply. But you have limited time and energy to put into gaining an understanding with everything else going on in your life.
Yet others might have a different story. Some might share that it’s their lifeline. Some include Bible reading in their daily routine because it’s so important to their lives. Some might point to a verse in the Bible that dramatically changed their life.
So what’s the difference? Why do some people find the Bible boring and irrelevant? Why do others find it life changing? There are many reasons. But we are going to focus in on a major one today. To get to this reason I’m going to make a claim about Bible reading. Reading the Bible can lead to Christ-like transformation in our lives. But how? Why do some people not experience this transformation while others do?
