In my Tuesday morning Bible study at church, we are studying the book of Mark. We begin by listening to the passage from Word of Promise. Have you heard of it? Actors from Hollywood lend their voices to the reading of Scripture, music shapes the transitions and mood, the sea or the crowd or the street noise can be heard in the background.
Listening to Word of Promise, the events of Jesus' life unfold in a rich, new way--because I think we're all guilty of occasionally reading God's Word with glazed eyes, eager to check "Bible study" off our to-do list.
But what if we slowed down and heard the awe-struck gasp of the man whose withered hand became whole? Or the grunts of the men lowering their paralyzed friend down from a hole in Peter's mother-in-law's house?
{Side note, I think the producers should have included Peter's MIL shouting, "My roof!!!" but that would have been extra-Biblical content and frowned upon I suppose...}
These things we read of in God's Word really happened. To real people. Real people with feelings and bodies and hopes and dreams and struggles like we do.
I think about these things when I am writing books because my characters brush elbows with the likes of Peter and Paul and Barnabas, but I need to be better about seeing the Gospel with flesh on when I read it.
Because if I really see Jesus feeding the hungry and caring for the sick...how can I do anything but follow in His footsteps?
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