It’s Tuesday, and the 12th-grade literature test you’ve put off studying for is tomorrow. You know you should have already read the entire play and made notes. However, you quietly mutter, “Who has time to read?” Besides, Shakespeare’s Old English is hard when you’re so accustomed to new English. You can feel your heart begin to race as your breathing labors. You’re drowning in a river of procrastination. Though Mr. Shakespeare’s overall plot is evident, you realize how much your teacher loves savoring little details – details that will surely expose your lack of interest and diligence. Suddenly, you remember! You bought that little black and yellow book just in case. And now, “just in case” has arrived, forcing you to reach for those CliffsNotes.
Most, if not all, of us have done the same thing only to discover, much too late, that the teacher had also read the CliffsNotes. She knew what was in them and what was not. She knew how to find out if you’d been honest about reading. Moreover, she understood the value of reading the entire work. Those carefully crafted details delicately stretch human skin over characters, transport us into a virtual setting, and choreograph the intricate plots and subplots.
Without reading the whole story, themes and takeaways are never pieced together. Yet, when we take the time to step inside the story, we identify with the characters’ successes and failures. Living in the story causes us to naturally explore our own emotions, relationships, and behavior. Good teachers inspire us to want more from a story and will often test our understanding for our own good.
In our fast-paced society, looking for the CliffsNotes version of Scripture is tempting. We take a verse here and there to create a belief system that doesn’t come close to what the Author intended. Some tend to cut and paste their theology. Looking at the synopsis for answers to life’s problems seems easier, yet the answers most always lie in the details.
The good news is that we can rescue ourselves from drowning in a river of procrastination by intentionally dipping daily into the Word. Just as we must shower every day to clean our physical bodies, our souls must routinely bathe in the Word. Scripture magnifies our dirty spots, but those willing to be washed in the water of the Word are made holy and clean. And clean people live clean lives. We may simply sip on Scripture through CliffNotes-type blogs (like this one), devotionals, or podcasts. But to TRULY experience the love of God, the grace of Jesus, and the friendship of the Holy Spirit, we must read all of it and let the Spirit do His work!
Slow, methodical reading teleports us back to primitive settings where we step into the countryside, onto mountaintops, beside lakes, across pastures, and into temples and synagogues. In those surroundings, we meet prophets, priests, kings, apostles, disciples, and God with human skin lying in a manger. We watch as Adam names the animals, Noah builds the ark, the Red Sea divides and stands at attention, David swings his sling, the dead are raised to life, the three bodies hang on three crosses, and the stone rolls away from the tomb. We hear the cattle lowing, the rooster crowing, and “Today, you will be with me in Paradise.” Our eyes widen in awe at the baskets of leftover bread. We smell Jesus’ fish cooking over the charcoal fire. We taste the wine that makes hearts glad and feel the oil soothe our skin. Stepping inside the story and taking a long, long look around makes all the difference. It’s such a great story!
If you haven’t already, choose this day to begin reading God’s love letter to you, word for word, detail for detail. You don’t have to understand it all. Rest assured, you will have your Holy Spirit Teacher sitting next to you, whispering what you need to hear. He will give you hope and encouragement every time you take a nice, long dip.
That’s a promise!
“Such things were written in the Scriptures long ago to teach us. And the Scriptures give us hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God’s promises to be fulfilled.” (Romans 15:4 NLT)
