A Post Worthy of Screwtape

My third post in 10 days. Am I going too fast for you? Are you keeping up? In order to set the table for this post, I will need to drop a few quotes on you from a previous post - Is God Relentless?

• Going way back to my So Many Pedestrians post, I mentioned my Bible reading plan, which consisted of a daily dose of one chapter of Psalms, three OT, one Gospel, one NT, resulting in various repetitions through each section in a year. There was only one problem with this plan. That is, if you miss a day, double it, if you miss two days, triple it, and before I know it, I'm trying to read 20 chapters in a day with the only goal of catching up to my schedule, and not of meditating on God's word. Easy solution. I am no longer obsessed with catching up...

• Also, since I am no longer racing against the calendar (and inevitably losing), I have allowed myself the freedom to cut back to one chapter of OT per day. As a result, now at the pace of only four chapters total per day, it allows me to slow down and think about what I am reading...

• In short, I am less interested in getting through the Bible and more interested in the Bible getting through me.

These are just excerpts. As I go back and read the first four paragraphs of that post, they could just as easily have been one of The Screwtape Letters. (If you are unfamiliar with this wonderful little book, you will need to click on the link and at least read the synopsis before continuing - but I am moving on with the assumption that most are familiar with the premise).

It has been awhile since I read it last, so perhaps this or something similar was actually one of "The Screwtape Letters". If so, my apologies, purely coincidence, no lawsuits please, just call me Clive. But I think it would have gone something like this:

My Dear Wormwood,

I see that your patient has started reading his Bible. This is bad news. When it comes to this, the reading of the Word of the Enemy, you must convince your patient that less is more. That reading too much may actually be harmful. That breadth and depth are mutually exclusive. Put in his head a pithy little catch phrase like, "It is more important that the Bible get through me than that I get through the Bible", all the while hiding from him the obvious truth that the former will never happen without the latter. Lead him to believe that calendars and checklists and daily goals are our idea. Let him justify his newfound philosophy with spiritually sounding phrases like "Freedom in Christ", all the while hiding from him the obvious truth that "If you aim at nothing, you are sure to hit it." Convince him that seven chapters, or about fifteen minutes, a day, is way too much to receive any benefit from the reading. And if seven chapters is too much, then four chapters must be better. And if four chapters are better, then one chapter would be even better. And if one chapter is even better, then one verse would be fantastic. And so on, and so on, until eventually, you will have your patient simply and quite proudly meditating upon the letter 'a'.

Your affectionate uncle,
Screwtape

So how and when did I come upon this realization that actually setting a goal to read through the Bible in a year and following through with it might even be a good thing? I was simply browsing the Bible section at Northwestern Bookstore, as is my custom, when I came upon the "ESV Daily Reading Bible". Note the subtle difference in title. It is not the "ESV One Year Bible", and as such is not laid out in the standard One Year Bible format, with various passages presented for each day of the year. Rather, it is laid out like any other Bible, and as such can be read and studied and carried to church like any other Bible. The only difference is that there are dates simply printed in the margin, so you know where you are supposed to be reading on any given day, with the other passages for that day printed at the bottom of the page for quick reference. But you rarely need those references, as it also comes with three ribbon markers, to keep your place in the Old Testament, Psalms, and New Testament each day. And if you follow through with the daily readings as presented, it will take you through the Old Testament once, and the Psalms and New Testament twice each year.

So to make a long story not as long, as I stood there holding this Bible in my hand, I became deeply convicted that this is what I needed to do. So I bought it, and have been using it ever since, but still with notebook and pen in hand, the same notebook which will be the source material for many future posts here.

So I am not saying that you must use the "ESV Daily Reading Bible" as I am, (perhaps the ESV itself isn't really your "thing"), but I would encourage you to read whatever Bible you cherish early and often. I once read a church sign, (which usually makes me cringe, but this one happened to be ours), which said, "Parents need to spend quality time with their kids - lots of it." That was referring to the oft-quoted cop out of parents who spend "quality time" with their kids, i.e., not very much. But I think it also applies to what I am saying here. You need to spend quality time in the Word - lots of it.

Footnote: If you enjoyed The Screwtape Letters, I would highly recommend the audiobook version, as read by John Cleese, of Monty Python fame. He is perfect for the task. Also, in my research, I learned that The Screwtape Letters movie is in the works, from the same producers who brought us The Chronicles of Narnia, due out next year. I'm there.