Tag Archives: God

Challenge Day 14

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Today’s Inspiration. For several years in my late twenties and early thirties, I was between churches. This Baptist-raised, Sunday school, Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night prayer meeting—and later, youth group and college group—attending girl just stopped going for a while.

The years that I stopped going to church happened to be in my I-don’t-trust-God-with-the-big-decisions-in-my-life phase (described a bit here). That, in all honesty, was the biggest reason I didn’t go. But it also had a lot to do with a) the fact that I was dating a raised-to-go-to-weekly-mass, but didn’t-really-go-anymore-because-he-worked-seven-days-a-week Irish, Roman Catholic man (whom I married after many, many years of waiting for him to finally propose) and b) my own disappointment in the lies, the corruption, and the failure to deal with said corruption in the church I had last regularly attended—which happened to be Pentecostal.

When my boyfriend/fiancé/husband and I did occasionally look for a church, it was hard to find a balance: conservative and calm enough in its worship for him, and grounded in Biblical teaching for me. This last was extremely important to me: I needed meat, not milk (Hebrews 5:11-14), sermons primarily based in and derived from God’s word, verse-by-verse, chapter-by-chapter, or book-by-book (as opposed to the more topical sermons that use a verse or two here and there). In effect, I wanted the teaching we sat under each week to be useful in both (all, now) of our lives.

The idea of the usefulness of God’s word is today’s inspiration:

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness. (NIV)

Today’s Challenge. Your challenge today is to examine the usefulness of Scripture—of the Bible—to your own life. Do you believe it is useful (this touches on yesterday’s challenge question, too)? Do you really use it? Do you even know enough of the Bible for it to be useful in your own life? How should, or do, you use it? All of these are questions you could consider when contemplating the Bible’s usefulness.

Stacked dishes: Gravy boat, sugar bowl, teacup without a handle, sitting in front of a plate that stands in the background. Photo text: Challenge Day 14, the Bible is useful. #writinglifeaugustchallenge

Pray for understanding and insight, both of God’s word and of your own heart, before you begin. Then, spend some time searching for answers in the Bible and in your own heart, mind, and actions. You may want to journal as you think through these questions.

Today’s Participation. Make it personal! What do you believe—really believe—about the Bible’s usefulness? Or how is it useful to you in your everyday life? Share your thoughts with someone in person, comment below, or create an Instagram post using #writinglifeaugustchallenge.

I know some of you may be wondering: Did we ever find a church? The answer is yes, resoundingly yes. The first year of our marriage, my husband and I lived apart; I was finishing courses for grad school out of state, and he stayed home at the job he had worked at for years. My brother invited us to his non-denominational church for Christmas services and we were hooked. When I moved back home nearly six months later, we started attending regularly and feasted on a regular diet of meat. Fast-forward 11 years to today: We have both grown tremendously in our personal walks with the Lord, and we have grown to love the church—the people we learn, grow, and serve with. Church is no longer merely a place to go to listen and sing and learn; it is family, it is home, it is who we are and how we live in Christ.

I also want to say a word to those who may have been hurt by something you saw or something done to you in a church before, since I mentioned having seen lies and corruption in a previous church: People are fallible. People, being people, will make mistakes and—yes—even sin. Putting our trust and hopes in people, as much as we love them, will ultimately lead to disappointment of some sort. What matters is that when sin is present, it is acknowledged, repented of, and if necessary disciplined in a Biblical manner. The church I attended in the past didn’t do that, at least not while I was there. I had made the mistake of trusting the people more than I was ready to trust God. I had it backwards. But don’t give up on all church bodies—on the church—if you encounter one that tries to hide its wrongs and ignores God’s word. Instead, find one that makes use of the word. And don’t give up trusting in God.

Challenge Day 13

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Mug and iron star on the mantle of a brick fireplace. Photo text: Challenge day 13: God-breathed scripture. #writinglifeaugustchallenge

Today’s Inspiration. Today, as yesterday, we turn to 2 Timothy 3:16 for our challenge inspiration:

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness. (NIV)

Today’s Challenge. Your challenge today is both simple and profound—if you allow it to wash over you, to seep through you, to penetrate your heart and mind and soul. Today, explore the question “What does Paul mean by saying ‘all Scripture is God-breathed’—and what does this imply for me?”

If you’re not sure where to begin, once again I’ll suggest trying Bible Hub (I really love this site! And nope, not getting paid to say that). Look at the ways different versions of the Bible interpret the words. Look at the cross references. Look at the commentary. Look at the Greek it was written in, and see how it compares to the words used in other places in the Bible (was it? Look at that!). Do your best to understand the words God-breathed, and then think through what this means, what Paul is implying. If all Scripture is God-breathed, what does that mean for you and me? What does it mean for the part the Bible is to play in our lives?

Today’s Participation. There are few more important questions than what you believe the Bible is, which is, after all, what I’m challenging you to ask yourself today. As a Christian (and sometimes as a non-Christian), the answers to this question can change the way you live your life. So for today’s participation, write out your version of the statement, “I believe the Bible is _______________, so __________________.” What is it, to you? Do you believe it is God-breathed? If so, what does that imply, or mean to you?

Write it in a journal, tell someone about it, comment below, or create an Instagram post and use the hashtag #writinglifeaugustchallenge. I would love to hear from you!

Challenge Day 12

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Today’s Inspiration. If you’ve been following along in the Writing Life Challenge this August, you may have noticed that every day I’ve said some version of read your Bible. The verse that inspired today’s challenge—and will inspire the challenge for the next several days—is about the Bible, and is 2 Timothy 3:16:

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness. (NIV)

Although this verse is a big answer to the question in and of itself, we’ll first turn once more to the question of why.

Bird figurine in foreground, and birdhouse in background, sitting on a mantle. Photo text: Challenge Day 12: Why read the Bible? #writinglifeaugustchallenge

Today’s Challenge. Today’s challenge is to ask the question, Why should I read the Bible? and to find answers to the question in the Bible.

Let me stop for a minute and explain something here. This challenge—and the majority of blog posts I write—is intended for a Christian audience, for people already claiming to believe in God and in Jesus as their savior. So I’m not suggesting that people ask why they should read the Bible over another religious text, although that is a valid question. But it’s a valid question for another post, another audience. What I’m suggesting is that people who say they believe—people who say, “Yes, I’m a Christian”—should make it a practice (regularly) to read the Bible.

There are so many reasons for Christians to read the Bible, and for some of you this may seem like such a basic question it isn’t even worth your time. But I think a version of it is worth the time for all of us: Either Why should I read the Bible? if you don’t read it regularly, or Why do I read the Bible? as a type of self-examination (perhaps even journaling) if you do. I suggest you tackle this question first with prayer, and then by reflecting on the verse that inspired today’s topic, 2 Timothy 3:16.

From there, you can do some further exploration. Perhaps you could explore the idea that the Bible is God’s “love letter” to us, one of the most significant ways he chose to communicate to humanity. Or perhaps you want to explore the idea that as God’s word to us, you can find guidance and direction for your life by reading it. Or you could start by reading a credible blog, like this one from Answers in Genesis.

Today’s Participation. Either in person or online (e.g., in the comments below, or in an Instagram post using the hashtag #writinglifeaugustchallenge), invite another person(s) to engage in conversation with you about why it’s important to read the Bible. You could do this simply by making a statement and asking a question in return: “I read the Bible because _______. Why do you read?” or “I need to read the Bible because _______. Do you read it?” I would love to see your responses!