I read and followed these instructions from Francis Chan’s Crazy Love. After opening the Bible to the first Gospel, I slowly made my way through all four books, and added Acts to the mix.
Thinking about it, needing another book to tell me to read God’s word is pretty pathetic. I wish more of my adolescent life was devoted to His word. I know God has a plan for my life and how it plays out, but that’s no excuse for my lack of spiritual diligence. I basically robbed myself of the dire need to be intimate with God.
This blog post is for those of you who have done just that – robbed yourself of an everlasting intimacy.
Let’s not water down the seriousness of the issue. It’s not “Yeah, I know I should be in His word more… I just don’t have much time for devos.” It’s more like “I am foolishly breaking one of God’s greatest commandments and making idols of things that’ll burn.” That’s the essence of it… if it is only God that we should worship, then holding anything in higher esteem is idolatry.
If you have the Holy Spirit within you and lack a healthy devotional life, then you should have the feeling of conviction pounding at your heart. You need to start reading the Bible now. Seeing as you have plenty of time to read my blog, you clearly have enough time for Him. I would much prefer that you never visit this blog ever again and instead spend the time learning from Him. Maybe your excuse is laziness, that you don’t want to take the time to dust off the book and open it. Well too bad. I just extinguished your excuse by posting a chapter of Matthew below.
Just don’t forget you’re reading God’s word.
Read the sentence above again.
The Genealogy of Jesus Christ
1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 3and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram, 4and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, 5and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, 6and Jesse the father of David the king.
And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, 7and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph, 8and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, 9and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, 10and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah, 11and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.
12And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, 13and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, 14and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, 15and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, 16and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.
17So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations.
The Birth of Jesus Christ
18Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 20But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:
23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall call his name Immanuel”
(which means, God with us). 24When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.
I commend you for getting through all that genealogy. But no need to stop now. See Matthew 2.
