“Right at the heart of this alienation lies the absence of Jesus the teacher from our lives. Strangely, we seem prepared to learn how to live from almost anyone but him. We are ready to believe that the ‘latest studies’ have more to teach us about love and sex . . . We lose any sense of the difference between information and wisdom and act accordingly . . .
Where we spontaneously look for ‘information’ on how to live shows how we truly feel and who we really have confidence in. And nothing more forcibly demonstrates the extent to which we automatically assume the irrelevance of Jesus as teacher for our ‘real’ lives.” - Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy
Most of us don’t look to Jesus to inform our real lives.
Maybe we let him influence our theological, church-going, belief lives. Maybe.
But our everyday lives? Not so much.
With little to no exaggeration I say this: We have a spiritual crisis in our country. 68% of the people in our nation claim to be “Christians.”* However, does this seem to be the case when we look at our society? Hatred from both sides of aisle, divorce rates and domestic abuse worse than ever, and a failure to offer hope and proper intervention to younger generations who are being wrecked by depression, anxiety, and suicide. Does it seem like we have 225 million “little-christs” (as C.S. Lewis would say), living their lives informed by Jesus, bringing love, justice, and peace to the people in their spheres of influence?** Again, not so much.
There’s clearly a disconnect between what most of us say we believe and what we actually are allowing to inform our lives. As Willard points out, we “seem prepared to learn how to live from almost anyone but [Jesus].” Whether it’s the propaganda machines we call the “news,” social media influencers, Oprah, or pseudo-scientific articles, Jesus is not exactly the top informant of our practical decisions. And that’s why so many of us are stuck.
We’re often caught in the tension of divided lives and personas—Jesus as Lord of our lives on Sabbath, but not really on Monday. We wonder why our characters aren’t developing, or why we don’t experience the peace and joy that is so often promised in Scripture. It boils down to this: For many of us, Scripture is not informing our real, everyday lives. Instead, we’re making choices based on popular sources that are letting us down time and time again.
Why?
At first, I read Scripture because it was a requirement. I was homeschooled for several years, and part of my daily tasks was reading the Bible—it was just something my brother and I did. Maybe this is the case for you. Scripture reading is just something to check off of a list.
For some of us, maybe we’ve been taught to see Scripture as a rigid manual—something that has very burdensome requirements for living.*** And what do we do with most manuals? Well if you’re anything like me, you don’t read them. They’re too long, and too boring, and they might contain something I’d rather not know.
Particularly if you’ve grown up in particular sections of the Adventist tradition, maybe you’ve learned to see Scripture as a future predictor—a futuristic book that has the answers for exactly how the world is going to end.
Are any of these ways of approaching Scripture inherently wrong? Not exactly. But are they all that Scripture is supposed to be in our lives?
Purpose
One of Scriptures biggest purposes is to inform our real, everyday lives. Jesus does not just want to be our Saviour that forgives us of our sins, He wants to be the Teacher (Rabbi) that informs us how to live.**** Scripture is how God teaches us to live each day. He’s not in the business of telling you each specific decision to make—like whether to eat PB&J or cereal in the morning (or help you choose between kale or spinach, for you salad-lovers). But Jesus does want to teach each of us to grow up in our faith journeys by allowing him to develop our characters in line with His Word.
So who are you going to let form your life? If we want to move beyond nominal Christianity, if we truly want to be Jesus’ apprentices, we must let Him teach us how to live.
How?
“Write these commandments that I’ve given you today on your hearts. Get them inside of you and then get them inside your children. Talk about them wherever you are, sitting at home or walking in the street; talk about them from the time you get up in the morning to when you fall into bed at night. Tie them on your hands and foreheads as a reminder; inscribe them on the doorposts of your homes and on your city gates.”
-Deuteronomy 6:6-9 MSG
Here in Deuteronomy, God tells us how we can let Him inform our everyday lives: practice and repetition. In the morning, at lunch, in the evening; alone, with our families with our friends, we read and think about what He says about life. If this sounds daunting, join the club! But, in relationship with Him, we can start small and let Him make this our reality little by little.
The average person spends about two hours on social media per day.***** Try reinvesting some of that time, or other media time into one, or some of these Scripture practices.
Start the day with Scripture
-A great way to do this is to reflect on a Psalm, or read a devotional on the Bible app.
-Bible app: https://www.youversion.com/the-bible-app/
Listen to The Bible Project podcast or YouTube videos
-This is a great way to learn how to read the Bible in a more effective and enriching way.
-Link: https://bibleproject.com/
Join a Bible study (or start one)
-If you’re interested in Bible studies, email hello@canyoncreekproject.com
Listen to a sermon on the way to work
-Some of my favorite speakers right now: John Mark Comer, Kevin Wells, Erwin McManus
Talk to a friend about Scripture once a week
-Grab some lunch and talk about a Scripture verse, and how it affects your lives.
If you have any questions or feedback, feel free to email me at ianreyes567@gmail.com.
On the journey,
-Ian
References
*https://www.barna.com/research/changing-state-of-the-church/
***Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy
****John Mark Comer - Practicing the Way of Jesus https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/practicing-the-way-of-jesus-audio/id374440024?i=1000384958561