A Relatable Bible

June 22, 2009

Today's Reading: 1 Chronicles 11-12 and Ephesians 6

Some of you might not have noticed this, but I have been completely skipping the Old Testament readings. That is because it is 1 Chronicles, and who really wants to read about who begat who anyway?

I can honestly say that every year I skim through the Chronicles. I treat them like its stuff on the editing floor of my favorite movie. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great to have the additional footage of my favorite scenes, but in the end, the scenes were edited down for a reason.

I mean, do I really need to hear the story of how David refused to drink water that his soldiers bought for him, again? In all honesty, it sounds like a story that some celebrity would tell about another celebrity on a late-night talk show. Except instead of saying: “wow, those guys are just like me” or “wow, those guys are exactly like me”, the audience is saying: “Hmm. So you were thirsty, your men bought you water, and you didn’t drink it. I mean, it was there, you might as well drink it. Now you’re just going to have to find a drinking fountain someplace.”

Yeah, there are parts of the Bible that I just can’t relate to, which is why I started Irreverent Reverence in the first place.

So now that we’ve started reading the book of Ephesians, there is a lot of stuff that sadly, most people can’t relate to. Stuff like: “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.

Man, I don’t even know what that even means!

Still, I want to be at the point where I not only understand it, but I live it. Ha ha ha!