James 1:14 uses a word that describes the word to first get a fish out of his safe place before trying to get him to bite on the lure.  The point for us is we can build safe places and learn to love them to the degree that they are more appealing than the offer temptation always brings.

             One man told me of his battle with cigarettes, which he admitted he never really liked very much.  He had, with the help of nicotine gum, successfully stopped smoking but still wanted a cigarette more often than he liked even though it had been more than a year since he had smoked a single cigarette.  He knew his attraction was no longer a physical habit because the junk had been out of his system for too long, and he wondered why he still wanted something he didn’t want to do.

             He began praying, “Lord, show me where this urge comes from and how to get rid of it.”  The Lord did.  What He said to him was, “Cigarettes are your safe place. They are a dangerous safe place, and you need a new one.  What do you like about them and why and what can you learn to love and construct that will make them unappealing and make the alternative more appealing?” 

             He realized a decision he had made when he was young that cigarettes made him tough, independent, manly, and were associated with certain manly outdoor activities had become a big part of his self-image.  He began to call these ideas what they were:  silly, immature, unrealistic, the cause of bad breath, bad health, and unnecessary expense.  Then he began to build a picture of long life, a life pleasing to God, smelling good, feeling good, and not setting a bad example for his children.  Soon he began to wonder why he ever started smoking and no longer felt the former attraction to his old habit. 

             Unfortunately for us, we are often building places where we feel comfortable but are in danger.  Many of these places (like his “Marlboro man” place) expose us rather than protect us.  Do you have an image of your family that is Biblical and God-pleasing?  How much do you love it?  How about yourself and the work you do?  Do you have a picture of yourself as hardworking, successful, and pleasing to your boss or do you have a more self-serving image of yourself as a worker?  If you have developed and nurtured good desire, then the flash of temptation will have much less magnetism because you’ll say, “I love it right where I am.”  Building a safe place is the best and most positive way we can handle temptation.  I hope you are working at building some new safe places and some new parts of your self-image so that when temptation comes to you, you’ll say, “You don’t have anything to offer me.”

If you were in the service this past Sunday, I made reference to a plan we have been using for several years to help us read through the Bible.  The great thing about this plan is that it includes 25 monthly reading assignment which allow a little grace if you slip up and miss a day here and there. 

The important thing is to BEGIN.  Today is the perfect time to start reading through the Bible. 

Here is a link to the guide:

http://www.shandon.org/get-involved/connecting-to-god/

 Systematic theology has been something I’ve had a love/hate relationship with since seminary.  I love all theology because it is about eternal truth.  There are three types of theology which I love in this order:  Biblical theology, historical theology, and systematic theology. 

             Biblical theology asks the question, “What does the Bible say?” As straightforwardly as possible it lists what the Scripture says.  It does its best not to impose logic, tradition, preference, or the personal into the expression of theology.  It prefers Biblical words to non-Biblical words.  Historical theology is simply a study of the record of what the church and churches have said about God, church, man, etc., down through the ages.  Systematic theology is an attempt to create a structure for theology that does not exist in Scripture and is too much the product of human organization of thought.

 I’ve heard people say the Bible is a systematic book, but it is evident that if it were, they wouldn’t have to make that defense.  The Bible is a relational book and has some of the loose ends all relationships do, even being an infallible, inerrant book.  It demonstrates God’s love for the world through story, law, poetry, gospel, letters, etc., but in no part does it resemble a systematic theology for long.  Therefore, it is by design not systematic. 

 You may be a person who isn’t interested in this and may see it as a preacher argument, but I assure you most of the wrong turns the church has taken have been done in the name of systematic theology.  Most of the corrections have been through a return to Biblical theology.  This is a caution and an interesting point (I hope) for those of you who are students of our faith.

I just finished reading the Bible through in a year or less for the 17^th time.  I can’t wait for January 1 to begin again.  In the meantime, I’m following a reading plan to read the New Testament in 60 days.

             If I were reading this blog and I had never done that, I’d be thinking, “It’s easy for you.  You’re a preacher.  This seems kind of braggy to me.”  So let me help you understand it is not.  It is designed to be an encouragement, not just to read through the Bible in a year but to make reading the Bible in a regular way a habit for you that you miss when you don’t do it. 

The first three times I tried to read the Bible through in a year, I failed.  I laugh about my good intentions being shipwrecked on the rocks of Leviticus, but that’s pretty much what happened three years in a row.  Then I went to a conference led by Francis and Edith Schaeffer.  At that conference Mrs. Schaeffer talked about her struggle with reading the Bible through in a year and how she had gone about doing it by dividing it up beginning at Genesis 1, Psalm 1, and Matthew 1.  I did that and it worked for me.  I now have been using the method that we hand out in the church for the last five times I’ve read through it, and it is by far my favorite method.  It is not for everyone.  My wife does not like it.  She prefers a Bible that is set up to help you read it through in a year.  It doesn’t matter at all what plan you use. 

When I read it through the first time, I felt like I had finished a difficult job.  Now when I pick the Bible up in the morning and read my assignment, I feel like I’ve come back to a wonderful and dear old friend.  It took me a number of times through to get to the point where it was that way.  But we need to recognize everything in life that is worthwhile is cultivated. Nothing comes to us wonderful and new.  I think that’s why old shoes and old pants and an old hat are so good for us to put on.  The Bible needs to feel like that to you – something you miss when you don’t read it and something that you rejoice in being with when you do. 

Make the effort with me again this next year to read through the Bible.  We’ll be handing out the Bible reading plan, but the plan won’t do anything for you if you don’t sincerely desire to utilize it.