Caution: New Year Ahead, Prepare for Impact
by Gordon Walker
“The moon's waving the world goodbye;
The morning sun smiles and lights the sky.
I hear the waves crashing into shore;
The world's an ocean waiting at my door.
Before I set out for the open sea,
I'll take the word my Father's given me.
And I'll go sailing out to Treasure Island,
The Treasure Island that God's word can be;
I'll pray and make my way to Treasure Island.
And in those quiet times, I know that I will find,
All the treasure I will ever need.”
-“Treasure Island,” Steven Curtis Chapman, 1989
“The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb.”
-Psalm 19:9-10
If you have had the privilege of visiting the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., you probably have your own favorite portion of the premises. For me, I could spend an entire day on just the second floor.
Formally tagged “The Impact of the Bible,” the museum’s second floor highlights a broad variety of ways that the Scriptures have impacted culture around the world, but especially here in the United States. With an incredible collection of artifacts and interactive displays, the Impact floor shows the intersection of the Bible with music and the arts, government and U.S. presidents, fashion, sports and entertainment and more.
As the year 2020 draws near, I have this sense that our church body is getting ready to spend a whole year exploring our own “Impact Floor.” By choosing to walk through the Bible on a shared reading plan over the next 12 months, it’s hard not to get excited about how this group exercise will impact our growth both as a congregation and as individuals.
Throughout my years as a Christ follower, I have had the privilege to learn under incredible pastors, Sunday School teachers and other Bible teachers who have helped spark growth in my understanding of the text and in my walk with Christ. I am currently part of a Connection Class that has three very gifted Bible study leaders, and our class has seen the Holy Spirit consistently feed each of them. As a result, this has helped grow our class into stronger fellowship with our God and with one another. Now, with all that being said, in my opinion, there is nothing more impactful for any of us than regular/daily one-on-one Bible reading. In no way would I consider myself any sort of a scholar, Bible or otherwise. I struggle with distraction in any reading. Still, the Lord has used the power of His word combined with my shaky little commitments to spend time reading it to provide me very timely and very personal encouragement, conviction, correction and path-making.
In 1980, the summer before my junior year in high school, our youth group was challenged to read the New Testament through, between July and the end of the calendar year. For someone who long had huge attention gaps while trying to tackle any book, this challenge of reading a significant portion of the Bible was no small task. Somehow, the Lord kept me motivated to keep reading and by December I had completed the work. The payoff was immense. The time spent in the pages of my first NIV bible (a gift received from my parents the previous Christmas that replaced the old King James) set up a foundation of personal Bible reading that continues to bear fruit in my own personal walk with my God. I remember reading John 16:33 for the first time. Having walked with my family through the fast and furious but losing leukemia battle of my older sister, Miriam, in 1976, I was able to see how so much of the truth and hope of Scripture had played out in our own shaken world. We experienced tremendous grief. But we were also richly afforded the comfort of the Holy Spirit, with most of that manifested through dear people in our church, family and school communities. Four years after Mim’s passing, I read through the Gospels and the Epistles of Paul and saw how the words mirrored how God had been so incredibly kind to us in our darkest time as a family, and through this 1980 reading exercise my faith and trust in God began to really take off. (Just reflecting on the sweetness of those times makes me wonder why I have had so many lulls in my faithfulness as His follower.) Losing my beloved big sis along with the often intense pressures of being a 1980s high schooler, it was comforting for God’s word to spell it out: “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” It was like God was speaking directly to me, letting me know that He was fully aware of the uneasiness that comes in various ways for all of us. In this wishy-washy 16-year-old’s world, there was trouble. Yet, there was also peace. I truly was able to “take heart,” seeing the promises of His word in action.
In the four decades since that initial plunge into God’s word, there are many instances that I can point back to where I have been strategically and surgically fed by taking the time to camp out in Scripture. Imagining the treasures that await, I would like to encourage all of our church to accept the challenge to read through the Bible in 2020. I would especially like to encourage “non-readers” and those who really struggle to stay engaged with ANY type of reading to jump in. You can be confident that you will see the goodness and the power of God’s word as you follow through.
Will you join us in 2020 on the Impact Floor at CRBC?
Author Bio
Gordon Walker and his wife, Beverly, celebrated their 30th anniversary in June. The Walkers serve as directors of the TBD Connection Class. They have been members at Council Road since 2008. During the week, they operate NightOWL Publications. They have three children: Brooks, (and wife, Dru), Oklahoma City; Annie, Stillwater; and Clay, (1991-1997), Heaven.