The Bible Recap

As much as I want to sit here and tell you that when you give your life to Christ things get easier, I can’t. Many things come along with it when you give your life to Christ. This includes so many great things such as the community in and outside of the church as well as even greater, the spirit of God now living inside you. Following Christ also comes at a cost. This cost being passing up on things that satisfy at the moment. Things of the world. A phrase said many times in the Bible, which must mean it’s important, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.” This means that if you truly want to surrender your life to Christ and follow Him you have to set your preferences and desires aside and be willing to die to them for the sake of Christ. Die to self.

This is something that should be applied to all aspects of life. When I think of this verse I think about all the major hardships one endures and all the “big” sins I need to stay away from and repent of. This is when I had to stop myself. Yes, this is true and I do need to avoid these temptations and “big” sins but what about the “small” sins I commit outwardly and in my heart on a daily. One thing that the Lord has revealed to me recently is laziness. Yes, laziness. You might be asking how this is a sin but it’s truly pretty evident. When I am being lazy, I am actively choosing my own comfort over anything else and sometimes this goes against me doing something that will bring life. One of these things is reading scripture.

Something that has helped and encouraged me to read the Bible more constantly is a book and program called The Bible Recap. I found it one day while listening to a podcast about studying scripture. The book was created to help you read through the entire Bible. The special thing about it is that it is written and organized to take you through the scriptures in chronological order. I’ve studied books of the Bible on my own before and kinda just picked and choose random ones to read. This was beneficial and still a great time spent with the Lord through reading scripture but sometimes I would find myself reading it just to pick apart every little detail and word. While this is great and did teach me a lot, sometimes it takes away from me just understanding and reading the stories as they are. I was so consumed with wanting to learn every little detail that I had grown blind to the much bigger picture. God himself.

The book helps walk you through each story and makes the story of the Bible one cohesive story. Reading it as one large story broken into smaller stories also helps you want to read it more and more because it’s not as intimidating. The book not only has the scriptures broken up day by day so you finish in a year but it also had a podcast that follows along with the reading and goes more in-depth. If you are in a place or have ever been in a place where you are unmotivated to read scripture or even just don’t know where to start, I highly recommend this book and the podcast. It’s changed the way I view and read scripture for the better and has encouraged me in my spiritual walk as well. Below are the links to The Bible Recap book as well as the podcast.

Book: http://www.thebiblerecap.com/books

Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/2lWv2RlsyMSMzerbAb1uOx?si=LLdWTjHoS7eGe_MYmU-vAg