I wish that somehow we could do away with verses and chapters in the Bible for a little while. Or at least, at will. Don't get me wrong--they're great for references, but sometimes they get in the way of true study.
Has anyone ever read Hebrews just straight from the top? Once you get about five verses in, you just can't put it down--unless you reach the end of the chapter or something, "Oh, this is my memory verse passage for this week, I think I'll stop here." There's something different about reading vs. reading the Bible. We have no problem reading five pages of a novel, or a junk magazine, or even the news--but more than five verses of the Bible? Now, that's a long passage!
I guess it does address our priorities, but it also points to our "tracking system" if you will. Pages vs. Verses. We usually don't monitor paragraphs (that's if we know what those are anymore). And then, of course, there's the fact that one verse in the Bible covers more ground than all the witicisms of the world combined. I mean, think about Jesus' words, "I am the bread of life." To explain that, scholars have exhausted themselves and their readers with millions of pages, saying many of the same things over and over again, because it is just so awesome!
But I encourage you: take some time to just read the letters in the Bible as they were intended to be read--as letters! You don't just read five sentences of an important lettter from a dear friend! Take some time to read an entire book. You'll be surprised at how easy it is, and how little time it really takes--and how much you'll learn in the process!
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2 comments:
I don't think that that the verse numbers ever really get in the way or take away from my experince of reading the Bible but I do see your point. A good translation that does not have every verse numbers in it is The Message Bible. It reads more like a novel and is very easy to understand. I agree though in general...we should not let the pages, books, chapters or verses get in the way of letting the Word of God speak to us in our devotion time.
I would rather we read them as letters from friends, but I see your point. I don't like the Message Bible myself, because, by being a paraphrase version, it drops a lot that a literal translation would give its reader. But thanks for the post!
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