My Christmas Gift To You All - The Bible

by Darryl L. Fortson

Dear Friends,

  Merry Christmas! My wife Shelia and I just finished reading the entire Bible yesterday over the course of the year. The version we read was "Every Man’s Bible, New International Version." Shelia had ordered it for me years ago, and I did read it through over the course of a little less than two years. It informed me, but it didn’t transform me.

  This time was different though. I think several factors played a role. Hearing the audiobook The Cost of Discipleship, written by the great man of God, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, prior to this Bible read, was one of those factors. What stuck with me from his book is that a relationship with Christ costs something. When you win a car on a game show or in a raffle, the car is free, but you still have to pay for your own gas, maintenance, and auto insurance. The same is with the free gift of grace of salvation through Christ; after accepting the gift, you have to fuel it with your prayers, maintain it with your obedience, and insure it with your faith in action, out of your own spiritual "pocket." That book helped me understand the cost and moved me to be willing to begin paying it.

  Another thing was the particular Bible we read. "The Every Man’s Bible" was not only valuable for me from the perspective of the men’s oriented presentation (there is an "Every Woman's Bible" too) but that this version has brief but powerful commentary referencing many of the chapters that speak in plain English what the relevance of a particular part of Scripture to our modern world and its challenges, and what that Scripture is saying to move us toward spiritual renewal, transformation, repentance, the power of God’s love, and the terrible consequences of failing to embrace that love and submit to its instruction. It also makes plain how all the roads in the Old Testament lead to Christ in the New one.

  This Bible had a reading plan that made sense. Consisting of a plan that starts you in the beginning of both Testaments (Genesis and Matthew), it divides up the reading to the end of each (Malachi and Revelation) over 365 days, with every reading day including verses from Psalms and Proverbs, also digested over the course of a year. That way you never get bogged down in less interesting sections.

  But the best thing was that I read it with Shelia – every day, almost without fail. A few days when I was out of town, we read separately. On days we missed (which were few), we doubled or tripled up on later days to catch up. We studied on days when we were getting along, and we studied on days we weren’t. To move things along, we would listen to the audio of the Scripture through Bible Gateway (www.biblegateway.org – it’s free.)  We were committed to each other to get this done, but most of all, we were committed to the Lord, because a relationship with Christ costs something. In this case, the cost was diligence, consistency, humility, and obedience.

  A few years back, after I got my Bible, I gifted one to my best friend, Keith. He kept saying that it was the best gift he had ever gotten. He "paid it forward" on his own to men he sent the same Bible too, but I didn’t realize how serious he was about it until he sent me and another dear friend of ours of a picture of page he had marked up to the hilt. In this case, “Darryl planted, Keith watered, and God gave the increase.”  

  This round of Scripture reading revealed much to me. First of all, it made clear how much God loves all of us, including me, although I confess that I stay too pissed off with myself most of the time to have fully embraced that to the depth that I know God would personally wish for me to. I am still working on that. The other thing is that I have strong sense of what is going on in America politically; but actually, it isn’t political at all. Rather, it is spiritual, with political manifestations. In short, all these terrible things that our political leaders are doing is God’s way of showing us ourselves. We have the leaders we chose, which speaks as much to our spiritual state as it does to theirs. God, through His prophets and His Son, did not criticize the kings of Israel and Judah anywhere near as much as he did the people and their disobedience, lack of faith, empty worship and religiosity, and worship of false gods. America has the same problem. Until we repent of the collective darkness within us that moved our nation to choose terrible leaders, our leaders will continue to be terrible, regardless of party. That’s what this round of Scripture showed me.

  Finally, the Bible makes it clear that God does not play, and He is not to be played with. He is real, He is true, Christ is coming back, and for those who aren’t down with His program, He is coming to kick butt and literally take names to erase from the Lambs Book of Life. You can believe that or not, but your belief or lack thereof won’t change the Program, only your disposition in it. “Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” My “wisdom” has begun!

  If I was a “baller,” I would go out and buy all of you this Bible and have it shipped to you in a pretty package, but I ain’t no baller. Besides, part of your spiritual journey may well be taking the first step to show it is a journey you are serious about by getting your own Bible. You can go at it the way Shelia and I did, or you can give it spin alone, but I pray you will begin this journey.

Merry Christmas! Hope you like the present.

And thanks again, Shelia, for my beautiful Bible!

Love,

Darryl