I finished my second full read-through of the Holy Bible. The first time I read the King James Version but this time I went with the New International Version. I finished reading it my first time while I was in Israel for work back in 2007 – I’ll never forget that. This time I was at home on what could have been a really melancholy day. But on a day that also reminds me of my blessings and of God’s grace and patience. God has been very gracious and very patient with me, though I do not deserve it.
First, let me say this book is more than a book. It is more than a collection of books. It is a complicated work assembled over the course of thousands of years, but, more than that, it is also one of the pillars of Western civilization. Its impact has been and continues to be incredible. The Bible has changed lives and has guided those with power and those without as well. I would argue that even for those that aren’t believers in Christianity, the Bible is still a huge influence. The book has something for everyone – I firmly believe that. The most precious thing it has to offer is a pathway to faith through grace that Jesus Christ is the only son of God and is our personal savior.
We do not deserve it. We cannot. One doesn’t approach God through acts. Sin drives an egregious wedge between us and God and, though we may wish to, we cannot overcome it. Jesus, being righteous, could and did on our behalf.
My faith journey has been long and winding. I have doubted and have forsaken Jesus multiple times and to varying degrees. I even convinced myself, in my youth, that one could attain peace without Him. While I still believe it is true that one can do so, I also believe that true peace comes with one’s relationship with Jesus and with God the Father. So you can be content without including God in one’s life. Even happy. But there’s always going to be something missing. Philosopher and mathematician Blaise Pascal wrote that there is a God-shaped hole inside of us that, though we can try to fill it with other things…whether it is alcohol, drugs, sex, money, gambling, shopping, and a wide assortment of alternatives…nothing will be quite right without including God in one’s life. Nothing else fills that hole.
I now am a grateful follower of Jesus, though I still have work to do, which I expect to be a lifelong journey. My faith has been reinforced by several factors. First, God has personally saved my life no less than twice that I am aware of. The first time just struck me as a series of freak coincidences, but the second eliminated that suspicion just based on the nature and extent of the miracles. I’m here only because God granted me a longer life than I otherwise would have had.
Second, I am the proud father of two children. The gift of life to my children and the gift of my children to my family and to the world has both awestruck and humbled me. Indeed, the world is a much better place for having my children here. Priceless treasures. With that in mind, I must confess I wouldn’t have the resolve to sacrifice my children as Abraham had been prepared to with his son, Isaac. The love I have for my children, however great it may be for me, must necessarily pale in comparison with the love that God has for Jesus, who He lovingly gave for us and for our salvation. God’s infinite and eternal nature cannot be grasped through human reason. I propose His love and understanding cannot be either.
Third and finally, though this shouldn’t matter, traveling to Israel three times helped to nudge me along my faith journey as well. Jesus’s works were all incredible. I do have a favorite miracle, though, accompanied with a favorite site in Galilee. The multiplication of fishes and loaves. I’ve visited the site twice and, both times, it stirred something deep within me. It clicked for me that that really happened. It’s not a story of another reality…Jesus really did that. He fed more than five-thousand with two fish and five loaves of bread. And there was twelve baskets of leftover pieces afterwards. To get to visit that modest church that sits at that site and to understand that this miracle occurred at or around the same location was mind blowing for me both times I went there. Fun fact: aside from the resurrection, this is the only of Jesus’s miracles that is documented in all four Gospels. I was humbled to get to visit a number of other sites of historical and religious significance for Jesus, but none resonated with me as much as the Church of Multiplication.
Taking even one of Jesus’s miracles as fact….indeed, most of them had many, many witnesses…leaves one in a difficult position to either dismiss something simply because one cannot explain it or to accept faith through grace and make the arduous decision to reorient one’s entire life to focus on God and on His glory. By the time I was in my late thirties, I was prepared to do the latter.
I wanted to share a couple of passages that were particularly moving for me this most recent read-through. First, from Isaiah 40: 30-31:
Even youths grow tired and weary,
And young men stumble and fall;
But those who hope in the LORD
Will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
They will run and not grow weary,
They will walk and not be faint.
Separately, there is plenty of evidence in the Bible of the breadth of God’s grace and forgiveness. As a simple but significant example, Paul had been a persecutor of Christians bringing many of them to death. After he became born again, Paul became a cornerstone of the early church and even the author of more books of the Bible than any other single author. Yes, God can forgive. He forgave him and he can forgive you, too. From Romans 8: 1-2:
Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.
The below is my favorite picture of all of the pictures that I took or had taken in Israel. This was from my third trip which was my first trip that was not taken for work. I went again so my family could see and experience what I had. It was a good family trip. The image is just a shadow of me walking with my wife and son in Jerusalem. I don’t recall where we were headed. It didn’t matter. We were together.
The Bible is a complicated work and has many layers. Even in those simplest of stories, though, reading them again can provide new or different insight even if it had been read many times previously. That said, I have every intention of reading the Bible as a whole again. Indeed, I have already started.
My first read through of the entire book was based on a church’s reading plan I had gotten my hands on even though I didn’t attend that church. This most recent read through was in chronological order as prepared in the default reading plans of the ReadingPlan app. There are a number of reading plans available as defaults and there are tons more options available for download within the app. This next time I am reading it in order of presentation. The main difference is, although I will use the app to track where I am, I am not going to necessarily read it in one year as the related plan is mapped out. I’ll read daily (or almost daily) enough to give me something to ponder and learn from and leisurely read the notes and bylines in my study Bible.
I’m going to take it slow. But it will be a deeper dive than my previous readings. I’m eager to learn more and to grow into the more devout person that this next journey will make me.
Comments