God cares less about what the Bible says...

God cares less about what the Bible says, he cares more about what it does..to the reader.  It is not self-help book, it is a book about how God helped us.

True, it does contain expectations, desires, and commands. It also has history, poetry, stories, and truth, always truth.

You see God's desire  is NOT simply conforming, 

but rather transforming.

We can "do" without "becoming". We can love without being loving, we can give without being gracious, we can withhold violence without being forgiving. Jesus called these folks out:

 “You’re hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! 

You’re like manicured grave plots, grass clipped and the flowers bright, 

but six feet down it’s all rotting bones and worm-eaten flesh. 

People look at you and think you’re saints, but beneath the skin you’re total frauds.

                 Matthew 23:27

The only way to allow the Bible to transform you is to read it. Most folks read parts of it, glossing over the pieces they don't care for either because it is difficult to understand (which some is) or it reveals to them what they really are.

But some may say "I don't want to be like Westboro Baptist Church!" Me either. I want to be like Jesus. He hung out with lawyers, prostitutes, demon possessed, men, women, sick, and healthy. He was killed and forgave the man who nailed him to the cross. He saw off in the distance clearly His father's plan of redemption and turned the world upside down. That is what I want to be like.

What about you?
Join me for 365 days. I'll post a reading plan that takes about 5 minutes of your day. Let it sink in you and challenge you, comfort you, cause you to make amends, and make you leap for joy. When there are some hard parts I'll unpack it a bit and always I'll bring it to bear on the here-and-now.

We were all made for glory. We were all made to be beautiful. We were all made to be whole.

I know what I’m doing. 

I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, 

plans to give you the future you hope for.

 

“When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I’ll listen.

“When you come looking for me, you’ll find me.

“Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, 

I’ll make sure you won’t be disappointed.” God’s Decree.

“I’ll turn things around for you. 

I’ll bring you back from all the countries into which I drove you”—God’s Decree—“bring you home to the place from which I sent you off into exile. You can count on it.

                               Jeremiah 29:11-14

the readings for today