Christians come in all shapes, sizes, and maturity levels, and the more honest we are, the more fun we are to be with, even if what we’re saying or working through is painful. The other day, someone told me:
Too many Christians read too many books ABOUT the Bible, and not the Bible itself. It’s an easy error to correct. Photo credit Steve Henderson Fine Art.
“I’m so afraid that Jesus is impatient with me. I don’t read the Bible much, and I don’t know what it says. I don’t think that Jesus can use someone like me.”
Sentences like that always make me ache inside.
It’s not that there’s a problem with the sentiment, it’s that the person mentioning it has been a Christian for many, many years, and attending church, and Bible studies, and small group meetings, for just about that long. If this stuff worked, I thought, then why isn’t it, well, working?
Please join me at my column, Commonsense Christianity at BeliefNet, for the rest of the story, The Purposeless Driven Life.
If you, like me, find yourself bored or dissatisfied with the many “study” materials out there that promise to lead you on to a stronger relationship with Christ, then please click the link, and leave me a comment at the end of the page, or this one.
We need to be strong, mature, knowledgeable and different, my Christian brothers and sisters. We will not get that way by reading book after book after book that talk ABOUT the Bible (and frequently don’t get what they’re talking about right) as opposed to reading the Bible itself.
This Woman Writes by Carolyn Henderson 
Reblogged this on Move Those Mountains and commented:
The title of this blog post really got my attention – it’s a challenging and truthful read.
Thank you. It is easy to approach reading the Bible as a duty, and that somehow if we do it, things will “magically” work out. It is much more difficult, but far better, to realize that this book is actual truth, the very words of God, and is very much reading with that in mind. It’s a subtle difference, but one well worth trying to appreciate.