The website "Statista" recently reported that according to their research from 2018 to 2021 around 30% of Christians do not read their Bible. Are you intimidated by the Bible? You’re not alone. Many people feel that way. Probably because they cannot get past the long genealogies, lists of rules, and characters. It contains names like Jehoshaphat, Nebuchadnezzar, Epaphroditus, Onesimus and others that sound like terrible diseases! Maybe people are apprehensive about reading the Bible because it contains stories about places they've never visited.
Lay all of that apprehension aside! The Bible is not a random book of seemingly unrelated stories. It's actually one big, amazing, exciting story! From Genesis to Revelation there is a common thread. Imagine that thread running from Genesis to the Gospels and then stopping for a brief moment (at the cross) and then that thread continues on to Revelation. The first words in the Bible say: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). When you turn to the back of your Bible you will see Revelation 21:1 which says, “Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.”
In the beginning God is creating the heavens and the earth. At the end He is creating a new heaven and a new earth. So the big question is this: “What on earth happened between the beginning and the end?” If you can answer that question you will have uncovered the one seamless story of God. A story of redemption. A story of scandalous sin and a Suffering Savior. Do you know what else comes between the beginning and the end? YOU!
You and I are somewhere in the middle of the beginning and the end. God is still working. He is still saving lost souls. He is still preparing a place for you and me. I love the way Paul puts it in Philippians 1:6: "He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ." This is a reminder that God is not done with you yet. Your story is still being written. In the moment you read this line... there is still hope!
If you are a child of God you should know that every single day God is seeking to lead you and guide you. He is helping to form sentences that flow into paragraphs. Over time those paragraphs form chapters. When all the chapters have been written your work will be completed. Don't try to take the pen and write your own story. Let God write your story. He has this amazing way of "working things together for good" (Romans 8:28).
He is not finished with you yet.
You are loved.
Ray Reynolds
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