Summer Challenges

It’s almost June now—a fine time to check and see if we’re really ready for all that summer brings.  I don’t mean ready with sun-screen or a new BBQ grill, but with spiritual resolve to grow strong in Jesus during this odd season called summertime.  Here are several challenges:

• Don’t "bail" on the church—you need your church family and they need you all year round.  Baseball is seasonal; so are garden­ing and golf and raking leaves.  But being the body of Christ isn’t seasonal.
• Don’t take a vacation from your routine spiritual practice—from reading Scripture carefully (with your own Bible, pen in hand) and responding to God’s Word through prayer.  Summer’s disruptions make it all the more crucial to stay close to Jesus.  The rest of the year our more regular schedules help us keep our bearings and stay on track:  we’re creatures of habit.  But summer throws us a curve.  So brace yourself, and make plans now so that shifting schedules don’t stifle your walk with Christ.
• Make your decisions about what to wear this summer with the good of others in mind.  Your own style preferences or whatever’s the current fashion are hardly the guiding standards.  Gals, your brothers in Christ will be grateful if you choose modesty.
• The flipside of that topic is guarding your eyes and directing your vision away from lustful gazing.  Jesus doesn’t buy excuses like “Boys will be boys” or “I couldn’t help it” (Matthew 5:27-30).  Commit your eyes to honoring the Lord (Job 31:1).
• In an article on the “Summer Mindset,” John Piper counsels all who yearn for R&R:  “Jesus Christ is refreshing.  Flight from him into Christless leisure makes the soul parched…  Don’t let sum­mer make your soul shrivel.”  This is God’s good earth.  “But it is all prelude to the real drama of heaven.  It is a foretaste of the real banquet.”  The heavenly city “has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb” (Rev 21:23).  “The summer sun is a mere pointer to the sun that will be.  The glory of God.  Summer is for seeing and showing that.  Will we have eyes to see?  Do you want to have eyes to see?  Lord, let us see the light beyond the light."

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Digital Bible, Pros and Cons

What do you gain when you use an electronic Bible for personal devotions, Bible study, or with the gathered church during the sermon?  And what do you lose? 

Clearly one gains convenience—not so bulky, and not all that fanning through pages.  In addition, you can find things quickly, whether it’s the text at hand or cross references or other linked resources.  And further, although our digital devices may fail, data backup means the texts, images, videos, and programs we value can live another day.  Considerable plusses.

But frankly, I’m more impressed by the advantages of the printed page.  The big plus, as I see it, is the ease of personalizing a physi­cal Bible.  I bought my Bible in 1976 (for the youth among us, yes, the glaciers had just receded that year…)—it was recommended for “New Testament History” by the Prof my first year at Bethel College.  That Bible has since been rebound three times, and today the binding is faltering yet more; some pages are thin or tattered around the edges.

But when it comes to Bible study or counseling or conversations about Christianity or preaching or teaching or personal communion with the God Who Speaks, my old Bible is the first tool I grab.  Of course, I have other Bibles (in various English translations).  And I also seek to access Scripture in its original lang­uages.  But my “good old” Bible still comes first.

Over the years I’ve added all sorts of brief notes, cross references, codes, and highlighting of every kind (circles, lines, arrows, colors, boxes…).  And over time I’ve developed a “relationship” with the format of these now-yellowing pages:  I can see the layout of chapters; I can visualize certain key passages, and that helps me find them.  Yes, there’s the danger of losing my Bible (I’m concerned about that).  But still, I’d be hard-pressed to overstate the value to me, and to others I serve, of having my one primary printed copy of God’s Holy Word.

The last year I taught at Wheaton College (2005), I assigned students in one class to write a short paper about the electronic Bible.  They were especially to identify any subtle gains or losses accom­panying this technology, and then make an argument in favor of one or the other—printed or digital Bible.  Results:  the vast majority (and note, these were 18- to 22-year-olds) said they wanted their bound book Bibles:  way too much would be sacrificed by relinquishing their familiar, personalized, printed copies of God’s Word.

That, of course, was in a pre-iPhone/iPad age.  The use of such mobile devices is on the rise these days, to be sure.  A recent experience with an adult class at my church revealed that at least half of those present, when encouraged to look up a Scripture passage, did so on their phones.  The digital revolution continues to extend its reach into our lives.  And I’m happy to restate this point:  there are many advantages to using electronic tools for accessing Scripture.

But I end with a word of caution:  be careful what you give up when you choose new tools to access the Bible.  The gains do not come to us without losses.  Let’s ask God to help us be “wise as serpents” (Matt 10:16) when it comes to the handling of his Word.

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