After finishing the book Love Does last week, God layed Chapter 29 on my heart. I think He really made me think about it a lot because it's how I've lived most of my life. I have been a stalker... Oops. I never really thought of myself as a stalker before, until I read this chapter. It made me realize that all my life, I had been studying the Bible, learning more about God, memorizing The Apostles Creed and The Lord's Prayer, listening to sermons about God, and stalking him. A stalker is kind of like an obsessive fan. Like someone who learns every single thing they can find out about someone, in attempt to get to know them better. The problem with stalkers is that they don't actually know the person. They only know about the person. I never got to know Jesus until about a year ago. Sure, it's great to know all about Jesus' life and the rest of the Bible as well, but it is SO much more important to actually KNOW Jesus. To have a personal relationship with him! We don't need to study Jesus and the Bible to know the facts; we need to have a relationship!
One story Bob told in the book was that he used to attend a Bible study every Wednesday, but he just felt like he was getting nothing out of it. That's when he realized that all the Bible study was doing for him was helping him know more about the Bible. He said that he felt like he couldn't apply anything he learned to his life. So he and his friends started having a Bible Doing every Wednesday. They learned things from the Bible and discussed exactly how they could apply them and use them every day. They made the Bible more practical and applicable. They didn't want to just read the Bible and try to memorize the facts. They wanted to use it to carry out their life.
Jesus wants us to be participants, not just believers. What good is believing if we aren't doing. If we aren't constantly seeking to live out the gospel. We need to constantly try to show love, to be a friend, to exemplify the Fruits of the Spirit! I fail at this every single day. But it is something so important to the Christian faith! The least we can do is try to live out our faith. Because LOVE DOES.
So I challenge you, along with myself, to have a personal Bible Doing sometime this week. Read some scripture from the Bible, and think about some way to live it out. Living out scripture could mean many different things. It will be different for everyone. If you want, share what scripture you choose and how you lived it out in the comments. It doesn't need to be something remarkably big. Love is simple. It just does. As always, I'm praying for you and I hope you have a wonderful week!
~Heather
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