"Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us"
Hebrew 12:1b
This past month I’ve started doing something that I have really never done before… running. The rest of my family runs, but I’ve always stood on the sidelines cheering them on, too out of shape to even think about running a race. I’ve always had great excuses: “I’m too old to start running,” and “My body just isn’t made for running,” and my personal favorite, “I just don’t have enough time to run.” My son has been challenging me to run with him in a half marathon, and this month I finally accepted the challenge to hopefully run in one next June.
I’ve started slowly, not running too much, especially that first week: only a half mile the first few times, then slowly adding distance throughout the weeks. I’m not very fast (actually you could say that I’m just plodding along), yet hopefully I’ll be able to increase both my pace and distance in the next few months. Even after only a month of running, I already feel healthier. I have more energy throughout the day and seem to have more time to get everything done.
One day as I was running, I was thinking about how running is a lot like studying the Bible. We all have good excuses for not reading the Bible. “I’m too old to start.” “My mind just doesn’t understand the Bible.” “I don’t have enough time.” My excuses for running were just that – excuses. I wasn’t too old, unable, or too busy. Neither are you unable to start reading and studying the Bible.
Start slowly. Don’t set out to read the Bible in a year if you haven’t read it much in the past. Read a chapter or less and then think about that section for the rest of the day. Each weekday I post to “Enjoying the Journey” on www.aliveinpeace.org with a short devotional thought connected to a short reading. I invite you to join me on this journey. I promise you it will be a slow pace…
The benefit of being in God’s Word daily is a healthier faith life. As you continue to be strengthened in the Word daily, the Holy Spirit will continue to work in your life to help you understand more and more about the Bible, and to help you see the truths that you may have missed before. Each time I read the Bible it seems like I find something I hadn’t seen previously.
It’s also important to be in Bible study with other Christians. Maybe you are more than a little scared of starting a Bible study with those whom you think are so much more knowledgeable than you are. Beginning September 11, at 9:15 am in the Fellowship Hall, I will be starting a Bible study just for those who have been a little scared in the past to be in a formal Bible study. The class is called “Bible Study for Dummies” and will address many of the questions you had about the Bible but were too scared to ask. I hope to have a full class on that day!
My hope is that each one of you will begin to exercise spiritually each day (if only for a few moments), and grow in group Bible study each week as well. Growing our faith in Christ is what we are called to do. I pray that each of you will commit to grow in your faith of your Savior Jesus, and be energized to share that faith with others through your love and service towards them.
In His Peace,
Pastor Burma