Thinking Out Loud

This is my first blog so bear with me :)

So the other day I was scrolling through Facebook when I noticed a post that read in thick black bold letters "4 hidden snapchat features" and I immediately clicked on it, thinking "Oh! Cool! I need to know what this is about!" Not realizing how excited and eager I was to know those 4 hidden features but when I was done reading the post I thought, "There's something wrong here, why am I more excited to read something about snap chat than I am to read my Bible?"It made me feel kinda disappointed. I started to reevaluate myself and my relationship with God because I thought"When I'm not excited to read about his word then I must not be very excited about him either." I didn't like that.

The only reason I'm bringing this up is because I know I'm not the only 20 year-old who struggles to read their bible everyday.

At BBYM, in our small groups a couple of Wednesdays back we talked about how we as adults and teens struggle with reading our Bibles and how we expect something exciting to occur while we're reading it, for God to show us something at the exact moment that we're reading. I think reasons why we let things get in the way of reading our bible is that we get discouraged when we don't get something out of what we're reading right away because we have to look for the meaning behind the words when the verse is complicated. It's not as easy to read our bible as it is to look for a answer to a math problem on google or as it is to say "I'm too busy to read my bible right now." Which is in most cases what we do. We also might not do it because it makes us uncomfortable or because it corrects us or because we simple don't want to do it.

When we read our bibles we know that we are being confronted by God and his Word. This hurts our pride and unsettles us. If we aim to preserve comfort and protect honor then we will avoid reading all together like someone who is out of shape avoids the gym. (Like me, I avoid going to the gym.)

Realizing how truly important it is to read my bible was hard for me because I honestly thought reading it in church was enough, that I was really getting what I needed. In order to grow in my relationship with God and to better understand his word I need to engage in it daily or multiple times a day.

I'm glad that God revealed to me what I was doing wrong and how to fix it. I hope this helps those who are reading this who also struggle like me.

I love you all!

Sara Nelson

BBYM Graduate