Hello, my friend!
I hope you’re doing well and pray your summer has been blessed with joy, good health, and growth in the Lord!
I was M.I.A. last weekend because of the 15-pound-wrecking ball that is my baby girl…
Just hours after I last wrote to you, I set my laptop on the living room floor with hopes of knocking out a bit more work while she crawled and played around me. Well, I had to step away to grab some wipes (spit-up incident…), and no sooner had I reached the table where the wipe pack was than I heard a mighty, wince-inducing CRACK!! coming from the baby’s territory. I spun around and saw Elliana grinning proudly on all fours, her plump little hands planted firmly on my irreparably flattened laptop screen.
So yeah. No emails have been sent, manuscripts edited, or blogs written in the last 14 days. I did, however, get lots of Bible-study time in, which I prefer to do analog style with physical notebooks, highlighters, and two-ton commentaries. That leads me to Tip Numero One in this week’s Top 6!:
Be an Active Bible Student
No matter how, where, when, or why you read the “living and active” Word of God (Hebrews 4:12), it is going to bless you. However, I have found that when I sit down with the aforementioned implements (notebook, pen, highlighters, commentary, Bible), the act of reading becomes more immersive and meditative. I’m able to zone out, in the best of ways, by becoming completely absorbed in the notetaking, question asking, page flipping, commentary reading, margin scribbling that active study encourages.
One of my favorite online tools to use is blueletterbible.org for looking up the original Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek in which the Bible was written and fleshing out exact contexts and definitions, and then cross referencing those with other biblical passages.
I have made the personal choice to stop relying on devotionals to serve as my “Bible time,” and this has made an impossible-to-overstate difference in my walk with the Lord.
Let the Bible speak to you directly. Ask God to illuminate and elucidate the texts He knows are best for you on any given day, in any given moment. I’m not saying devotionals are bad (I’ve written a few of them!), but they shouldn’t be the meat and potatoes, so to speak, of our spiritual diet.
Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say, ‘People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” – Matthew 4:4, NLT
Don’t Do As You Please
I love this quote from pastor Skip Heitzig:
“The more you do as you please, the less you are pleased with what you do.”
Put another way, the more we think of ourselves, the less happy we are. That seems completely counterintuitive, but we were created in the image of our Creator, and what does He do? (What doesn’t He do may be the better question…)
Well, for one thing, He cares for people. And not only people, but the birds of the air and the lilies of the field! (Matthew 6:25-30). He extends grace and compassion, mercy and forgiveness, and supplies all our needs (Philippians 4:19). Jesus, being our chief example of how to live, was constantly humbling Himself to serve others. He went out of His way to heal, preach, provide food, bring peace, and uphold truth for the sake of others who otherwise would have been ensnared by, or remained trapped inside, Satan’s snares.
The next time you’re feeling down, I encourage you to do something kind and thoughtful for someone else. I promise it will lift your spirits as well, because it was what we were made to do!
Just Start
“Nothing is more exhausting that the task that’s never started.” – Gretchen Rubin
Rethink the Time You Have
“The myth is that there isn’t enough time. There is plenty of time. There isn’t enough focus with the time you have. You win by directing your attention toward better things.” – James Clear
Welcome Change
I highlighted this quote from the delightful novel, Anne of Avonlea:
“’Changes ain’t totally pleasant but they’re excellent things,’ said Mr. Harrison philosophically. ‘Two years is about long enough for things to stay exactly the same. If they stated put any longer, they might grow mossy.’”
Hear Faith’s Voice
“Faith says not, ‘I see that it is good for me, so God must have sent it,’ but ‘God sent it, and so it must be good for me.’” – Streams in the Desert