A Personal Letter

This week I begin my quest to encourage you to start reading the scriptures again, or more often, or with more depth. My motivation is similar to telling you about a great movie. I want you to experience what I have experienced—the joy and the richness of reading a personal love letter from God Almighty, creator of the universe.

If the Bible is anything but this for you, then I want to create a shift in your perspective of, attitude about, or even your understanding of God’s word. Perhaps it appears pedantic and stiff and not very relational. I understand. But it is not; it is so much more.

To help with a perspective shift, let me give you a living, breathing example.

When I was fifteen, I attended a basketball camp, the largest basketball camp in the country, at Campbell College in North Carolina. John Wooden of UCLA fame was there, and I was in a group session with him one entire morning. Coach Wooden was a basketball god—not to be sacrilegious, but he was.

Yet the ultimate experience was a small group of us spending an hour or so with Pete Maravich. He was my idol! Just look him up on YouTube for his basketball wizardry. Pete taught me—me personally, me Sam—how to spin a basketball on my fingers, as well as several other tricks.

I treasured his tricks in my heart for years, and practiced them over and over—at the gym, around the house. Just ask my mother about all the broken lamps.

Now suppose Pete Maravich had pulled me aside and said, “Sam, I want you to experience the fullness of basketball, and all that this basketball life has to offer, so I am going to write down all my thoughts, my teachings, my philosophy on basketball, everything I have in my heart and in my head, and I am going to send it all to you in a long letter.”

Picture the day I received this basketball bible from my hero. Would I think to myself, “Oh my, I can’t believe I have to read all this? What a drudgery. I don’t have time for this. And anyway, there is nothing in here that really speaks or applies to me. I think I will instead read the newspaper, or flip through a magazine, or watch some TV—or whatever.”

No, I wouldn’t think that! I can only imagine the joy I would experience as I opened his letter, seeking to learn and absorb everything in it.

God Almighty, the creator of the heavens and the earth, has put in writing, “All My thoughts, My teachings, My philosophy on life, everything I have in My heart and My head, and I am sending it all to you.”

And please do not miss this: to you, personally. Yes, it is for everyone, but it is also to you, and for you, my friend.

Perhaps try again reading his very personal letter to you in this new light. There is a richness awaiting you. And Jesus is there to meet you as you open the scriptures to your newly opened heart.

Next Week: Pete’s Letter: What’s in it?