Meeting with God

Many times I have sat across the table from another Christian guy and asked them, “Why do you think it’s important to read the Bible?”

Generally, the answers flow out easily. “It takes the focus of myself and puts it on God.” “I feel closer to God when I read the Bible.” “It reminds me that there is more to life than just my day-to-day.”

For a moment I play devil’s advocate, “I have the picture of Jesus that I keep in my wallet. When I look at it, it makes me feel close to God. It reminds to that my life is bigger than myself. Sometimes, it calms my fears as I remember the love of Jesus and reality of eternity. If I’m able to experience all of that, why would I need to read the Bible?”

I follow up with the question, “If the Bible is so important, would you be able to show me something from the Bible that tells me why it’s important and why I should read it?”

Typically, the next 10-15 seconds is filled with silence and flipping pages. I’ve had guys, find John 3:16 and say, “Nah, this isn’t it.” Finally, they tap out, “You’ve got me.”

I have one more question, “Would you like to know why reading the Bible is important?”

Turning to 2 Timothy 3:16–17, we read

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

This one sentence teaches us 3 great realities about Scripture. First, the nature of Scripture is it’s God-breathed. People speak about the Bible being inspired, but the picture here is about Scripture being expired by God. Scripture finds its very origin in God—breathed by him. This aspect of Scripture impacts me in 3 ways.

(1) I can know that certain things are true about the Bible because it is breathed out by God. For example, the Scriptures are true (Ps 119.160); God does not lie (Num 23.19). His word is eternal (Ps 119.89). They are worth my trust (Ps 19.4).

(2) I can come close to God through the Scriptures. If they are truly breathed by him, then when I read the Bible I am having a close encounter with God himself. I am not just doing a religious chore or hearing about what someone else thinks about God; I am coming to meet with the King of the Universe in a way that I am close enough to feel his breath.

(3) The way the Bible works, it often recalls images developed earlier in its own developing story. The image of God breathing is a rather significant one finding itself in the account of Creation, “the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being (Gen 2.7).” The breath of God transforms a heap of dirt into a living being. In the breath of God is life. The breath of God brings life to nothings. I’m impacted when I consider the coldness, the hardness, the seemingly deadness of my heart toward God. Sometimes, I don’t feel I’m bringing anything to him when I come to read the Bible. But, that’s no problem. It’s not what I bring to the Scripture, but the life the Scripture brings to me.


In Scripture we are coming face to face with God. We experience him and learn about him.

The second thing that 2 Timothy 3:16-17 teaches us is the function of Scripture. We see what Scripture does. The Scriptures are useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training us in righteousness. I’ve worked with a number of college athletes over the years. Their coaches model this process quite well.

• Here’s what I want you to do (teaching).
• No, don’t do that (rebuking)
• Do it like this (correcting)
• Let’s build in some good conditioning and posture to hopefully make it easier to keep doing (training)

Scriptures benefit us as they move us toward being the right kind of person, the person that God created us to me, one who loves God and loves others. Scripture is changing us and challenging the way we think, act and feel. Scripture will change our lives.

The third thing in this passage is the purpose of Scripture. We see that as we learn of God and he brings change to our life that he does this in order that we would be fully equipped for every good work. God wants to use your life. He has a great purpose for you (Eph 2.9-10), and he uses the Scripture to fully equip his people for the adventure to which he has called you.

Seeing these three features of Scripture gives shape to my reading of the Bible. In Scripture I am meeting God, he is changing my life and equipping me his work. When I read the Bible I ask myself three questions.

(1) What am I learning about God in this passage?

(2) What am I learning about myself in this passage?

(3) What is one response I sense God leading me to make in light of this passage?

What motivates you to read the Scriptures? What difference is it making in your life?

Something to get excited about

I spend a large amount of time around people that are in vocational Christian ministry with college students. Actually, that's part of my job. One of the things I find interesting is how little we talk to another about Jesus. When asked, most of us would readily admit that he is a pretty big deal. But, if you listen to our conversations, it's easy to tell that we're excited about our fantasy football team, the new outfit from Ann Taylor Loft or the recent deal we found on Priceline. The volume of our conversation, the way we interrupt one another and other non-verbals tell even the poorest listener that we're pretty excited about something.

When was the last time you were with a few Christians and the conversation turned to, "Do you want to hear what I admire about Jesus?" or "I've recently been reading the Gospels, and I'm amazed that Jesus _________."

Perhaps, we could take a step forward and lead in the change. Consider, "I can only imagine how excited I would be if my favorite college team had as good of recruiting class as the Buckeyes. Recently, I'm become more excited about what God has been doing in my life. One of the things, I'm growing to admire about Jesus is that he can give me rest even when life feels packed in with responsibilities."

I was recently thinking about the story in Mark 5 where Jesus raises the young girl from the dead. Sometimes, my heart feels a little dead toward the things of God. I can try to do some self-defibrillation. I can listen to some Christian music that at one point seemed motivating to me. I can read a book that at one point really got me jazzed. But sometimes that doesn't make me feel any more alive.

One of the things I admire about Jesus is that he has the power and concern to wake me from the dead. That's a pretty big deal.

Try your own. Let me know how it goes.

If you need some ideas consider reading John 1, Revelation 1, Colossians 1, Philippians 2, or Mark 4 and 5.

Don't Assume

Last weekend I was speaking at a student leadership retreat for the Cru movement at U of Texas. Our family loved the opportunity to join some great students and staff members for the day. Following one of my talks a student approached me. He said he enjoyed the talk and had a question about something I said. Now, the range of meaning for that last statement is something that causes a moment of anxiety in me. While it could mean that they just have a question, many times it means "I have a bone to pick with something you said." Well, I was delighted to know it was the former.
The young fraternity guy referenced a story in my talk where I asked a college athlete if they'd like to know more about a relationship with God. The story continues with the athlete eventually becoming a follower of Jesus. Frat guy wanted to know what I said to the football player. I wondered what he meant. I started to answer him, but he said "no, that's not what I'm asking. I'd like to know what you said to him."
"Oh, you mean you'd like to know what I said to him about how someone begins a relationship with God?"
"Yes, that's what I'd like to know."

So, I proceeded to share with him a booklet that I shared with the athlete that describes how someone can have a relationship with God. I assumed that I had gotten to the root of the frat guys question. I assumed that he wanted to talk to some of his friends about Christ and wanted to know how. Why else would he be at a Cru retreat?

Reflecting back, I wonder if the guy had a relationship with God himself, or if he was asking me to tell him how to have a relationship. I may never know. I assumed I had heard his question. But did I?

Humble Beginning

I started wrestling as a junior in high school. At first, I was bad. But, during my senior year I had moments where it looked like I might be a decent wrestler after all. I did well enough that I entered our sectional tournament as the top seed. I can still see in my mind a conversation in the hallway as the tournament began. I was talking up myself to a couple of the freshmen on the team, with words of wisdom--perhaps, just pride--like "Guys, look at me. I wasn't very good last year, but I worked hard and now I'm the number 1 seed at sectionals." 20 minutes later I was defeated in the first round. The embarrassment of that night taught me two lessons. One, don't talk yourself up too much when there is still a ton to prove. Two, if you don't step into the arena, then you likely won't get embarrassed.

I've considered starting a blog a number of times for several years. Many reasons have prevented it from realization. But at least one reason is the possibility that at some point I would look like a fool. It's amazing how powerful that fear can be. Leadership provides many opportunities for this fear to be challenged. I'll at least enter the blog arena. I learned through the embarrassment of losing that it was better to have failed than to have never entered the contest. I trust that the joy of sharing ideas and being improved along the way will be well worth the risk.

In November one of our campus ministry leaders, Tim Casteel, encouraged me to write a blog. Tim cast vision for how my new role of leadership could be enhanced through getting some of my thoughts out into the world. So, here is my humble beginning.