In the mornings I always try to get a fresh word from the Bible to learn from and apply in my life. I need several things to receive that fresh word.
First and foremost, I set aside a dedicated time to read the Bible. Second, I use a reading plan to follow so that I know each day what I am supposed to be reading. Instead of figuring it out every day, having a set pattern to read and reflect gives me a running start. For a person who has never developed the discipline of reading scripture, the biggest remaining hurdle is making sense of something written centuries ago that by definition has different cultural mindsets and practices. Complicating things is the fact that the Bible was written in different languages than ours. Hebrew is the language of the Old Testament, and Koine Greek is the language of the New Testament (with a smattering of Aramaic thrown in for good measure.) Readable and accurate translations, study Bibles, and commentaries go a long way in filling in the gaps of knowledge.
For a Christian who has been around the block a few times, the challenge is a little different in getting that fresh word each morning. Sometimes, the obstacle is over-familiarity. You heard me right. The problem is we are too familiar with a certain passage or verse. When that happens, it is easy for us to assume that we already know something very well, and it ceases to speak to us with power, the fresh word we need for that day.
Take John 3:16 for example, the most searched for verse on the planet. There are over two million internet searches each month for that Bible verse, and the runner-up falls short by about a million. What that means is if you are looking at that verse for a fresh word, you have to work especially hard to get around the assumption that you already know all that it has to say to you.
Here is the verse as rendered by the New International Version: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” That first phrase ought to astonish us every time we read it: “For God so loved…” Why is it astonishing? Because whenever John’s Gospel uses the term, “world,” it is always negative, never positive. When you hear the word “world,” you might think of the natural world: butterflies, sea creatures, mountain views or waves of standing grain. That is not what the Gospel of John is talking about here. The “world” in the way John uses it is the human world that is in rebellion against its Creator — human society that raises its fist in the face of a loving God.
Generally, when people are hostile and aggressive, they find that others respond in kind. You might expect God to do the same – to annihilate humanity in a vengeful way. That is not what John 3:16 says, though. It tells us in extravagant language that God “so loved” us. The verb used is a derivative of agape in the Greek language — an unconditional kind of love. It’s the kind of love that you have when your spouse gilts you but you love them anyway. It’s the kind of love when your son or daughter does everything opposite of what you tell them or wish for them, but you remain steadfast as you love them through it. That intense kind of love has a booster word in front of it: so loved, or very loved. To put the phrase in other words, God very loved the world that shook its fist in His face. That is astonishing.
How does God show that love or prove that love? The rest of the verse tells us. He sent his one and only Son. The word translated as “one and only” is a compound word, pronounced monogenay in the original. “Mono” means one, and “gene” means kind. So, the Son that is sent by God is a one-of-a-kind Son. He is the only one, and there is no one else like him. One-of-a-kind things are rare and precious, like a one-of-a-kind gemstone. They are irreplaceable. God the Father shows his love for the human world shaking its collective fist in his face by sending his one-of-a-kind Son into harm’s way.
Why would he do that? What’s the endgame? Eternal life for whoever believes in that Son. The word “believe” is a bit misleading. In our culture and language you can believe in something intellectually without being fully committed to it in other ways. So, if I ask you if you believe in Jesus, you might reply, “Yes I believe there was someone named Jesus of Nazareth who started a religion and was put up on a cross in a martyr’s death.” The problem with simple intellectual belief is that it doesn’t go far enough in capturing what John 3:16 describes. When John writes, “whoever believes,” he is saying whoever submits their life to Jesus’ wishes and commands. Whoever is fully committed to him is what John means. What John 3:16 promises is that when you put your life, your faith, your trust in the one-of-a-kind person that God sent to humanity, the result is eternal life, starting now in this life and carrying through physical death into the next life.
To read the scriptures like this takes effort, like mining for gold. It takes time, attention and study, but the payoff over a lifetime is huge. The word of God breaks open to you each and every day. You can read it, understand it, and put it into practice as you live out your life. Dedicate yourself to looking for the fresh word daily, and God will be faithful to provide it.
Derek Russell is pastor of the Hillsboro Global Methodist Church. He loves Jesus, family, dogs and football.
