I am so grateful for the encouragement I received as a new Christian to form good habits. To find a time and a place and a method that worked for me to meet with God in his word. The idea could be summed up in the children’s song that was old even when I first sang it:
Over the years, the time, the place and the method has changed, but the discipline remains the same at it's core: reading and thinking about a part of God’s word, talking to the Lord about it, and the other things going on in my life, then praying for friends, family, my church and the world.
But there is a potential danger to personal Bible reading. Encouraging personal spirituality, Bible knowledge and prayerfulness is nothing but good, but it is possible for it to breed a personal faith that remains personal. There is a corporate aspect to Christian faith that must connect both with the other believers we have been called into fellowship with, and the outside world.
John Stott once described the church as a “hermeneutical community”—in plain language, we are a group of believers who are just trying to work out together what God is saying to us about the world, our lives and what is important. It’s what is supposed to happen in the gathered church week by week as we hear God’s word taught, and discuss or help one another to apply it.
In plain language, we are a group of believers who are just trying to work out together what God is saying to us.
But when this practice is cut off from others, it can create a spirituality that is lop-sided at best, and rotten at worst. We are given the knowledge of the truth to share with others in love. We are given the gospel to bear it to a lost and waiting world. And it is as we express these truths to others, that we can be helped to understand it better and have it impact us more deeply. "Expression deepens impression", as the saying goes.
This thought lies behind a new initiative we are announcing today.
We have published Explore Bible reading notes for over 20 years as part of the way we encourage and help ordinary believers to engage with God’s word day by day. But now, through the wonders of Facebook, we are introducing a way that Explore readers, editors and authors can interact with each other to share encouragements, ask questions, offer prayer requests, and to discuss application.
This group is not a substitute for regular fellowship with other believers at church or in Bible-study groups—and it's still great to share with "offline" friends about what you're reading in the Bible. But is another way you can meet with and share in the glorious hope we have in Christ. It's a way to be reminded later in the day of the truth you discovered that morning. We are hoping that this new Facebook group will be a place where you can find some positive encouragement and interaction with other believers around the world as we seek to follow Jesus together.
Just click the link to join the group and take part.
Tim Thornborough is the founder and Publishing Director of The Good Book Company. He is series editor of Explore Bible-reading notes, the author of The Very Best Bible Stories series, and has contributed to many books published by The Good Book Company and others. Tim is married to Kathy and has three adult daughters.