Day 88: The Finish Line

Image by Ambrozjo via sxc.hu

Hebrews 12:1-2

New Living Translation (NLT)

God’s Discipline Proves His Love

12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. 

***

What an incredible journey these last three months have been! I feel as though I've run a marathon, and in a sense, I have. I've had a huge crowd witnessing my race as I've shared it in almost daily blog entries. 

It's amazing how much I have learned in the last twelve weeks. This isn't my first time to read through in 90 days, nor will it be my last, but it has been the most rewarding. Nearly every day as I read, a passage would stand out in my mind, nudging me, saying "share me!". I often started without a clue what to say. But as soon as I started writing, the words seemed to just fly off my keyboard. I can't count the times that I thought I knew where I was going with a topic, and I'd find myself in the exact opposite direction. In fact, one day I even wrote:

Wow, that is so not the direction I thought I was going with this!

I edited that out, but it really did get written. Funny thing, too, because I didn't think about writing it, I just did! And really, that sums up how most of these entries have come about. Almost as though I was only an instrument to get the words out, but without my own intellect being involved.

Don't take that wrong. Nothing I've written has been God-breathed like the scriptures. I'm no Moses, or David, or Matthew. I'm nobody special. And this wasn't effortless. I studied my butt off! I would usually spend an hour and a half reading scripture, but then I would also spend as much time looking up commentaries and historical  encyclopedic references. The Jewish Archival Encyclopedia was a tremendous help to me as I researched more about the people who lived in the Old Testament times.

But it's not the Biblical commentators or the historic compilers who directed my learning. The only one who gets credit for what I've learned, and the majority of everything I wrote this summer, is God. I was already convinced of that, but yesterday as I was nearing the end of the Bible, I read this scripture:

But you have received the Holy Spirit,^[a] and he lives within you, so you don’t need anyone to teach you what is true. For the Spirit^[b] teaches you everything you need to know, and what he teaches is true—it is not a lie. So just as he has taught you, remain in fellowship with Christ. (1 John 2:27)

Amazing. At the very end, God gives me confirmation of what I already knew. It pleased me very much, because I have often considered enrolling in Bible College. There are many that offer correspondence courses these days, many at low or no cost. And I still might, eventually. But God has shown me that He is the best teacher I could ask for, and as long as He's willing to instruct me, I'm going to be willing to learn from Him.

So this isn't the end for me. I may have finished this marathon, but there are nine months between now and the time I start over. Usually I spend those nine months letting my brain rest and my spiritual walk turn to a crawl. Not this year. I have just bought two new Bibles. One is actually a 31 chapter condensed version. The major events are included intact, but the more difficult, chewy passages are pureed and processed for easy digestion into a brief summary that keeps the flow between selected portions of Scripture. It's about 500 pages long, and I'll read that for relaxation.

When I finish that, I'll begin the other new one. It is divided into 313 daily passages; Six per week, with one day of rest. I'll read more than one per day, of course, because I'll have less than 9 months to complete it. The exciting thing is, both of these new Bibles are laid out chronologically  and each is a different version. In fact, they are both different versions than what I've been reading from. By this time next year, I will have read the entire Bible a total of 5 times in my life, in as many different versions. (Or are they translations? I can never really remember what the difference is.)

By setting these goals and committing to them, I am sure to stay more grounded in the Word than I have done in the past. I am so looking forward to drawing closer to Jesus and understanding God's ways more completely as He continues to guide me. It will be like spiritual weight lifting. Each day my faith will get stronger, and my endurance will improve. 

I hope you've all been blessed by what I've learned and shared here in the last 90 days. But please remember, the best teacher is the Holy Spirit. You can always trust what He says. You can only take my word with a grain of salt. 

I'll continue to blog as I go, although my entries will be less frequent. Those who have followed me over the last several months can continue to do so. I'll always post them on Facebook and on Google+. But now is the time for me to slow down on writing and focus on my family, and on making jewelry. If you've been following me here, I encourage you to subscribe to email notifications on my jewelry website, www.earthpsalts.com. Pray for that endeavor, please! I need to generate a small but steady source of income from my jewelry.

I will also be compiling what I've written here into a real book in the coming months, edited and polished, and possibly with content that I have not included in my blog.. My primary reason is so that I can share it with family members. I want my children and my grandchildren to have copies. I didn't do the greatest job teaching my children about the love of Christ as they were growing up. If God allows, I would love to have the chance to do better with my grandkids. Through my book, I hope that will be possible. If you would like a copy of it when it is available in paperback, please leave a comment here. I'll be able to sell them directly for a lower price than what they'll retail at on Amazon.

For now, I'd like to leave you all with one final Scripture:

Jude 1:24-25

New Living Translation (NLT)

A Prayer of Praise

²⁴ Now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault. ²⁵ All glory to him who alone is God, our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord. All glory, majesty, power, and authority are his before all time, and in the present, and beyond all time! Amen.