Seeing Biblical Figures as… People
Recently at a great mens wednesday morning bible study I attend, I noticed that guys were talking a lot ‘for’ biblical characters as if they knew them. Which, considering how much information we have about folks like Jesus, Peter, Paul etc that can be partially true. On the way home though I started thinking about testing myself on particular biblical figures. I admit it’s been a few years since I’ve really been engaged deeply in the Word on a daily or monthly basis… before kids etc I used to spend time literally going to the park to read the bible and journal for an hour or so, and was able to do it without getting distracted or thinking about what I would do “next”. Around 2003–2007 (during college and after graduation/starting teaching) after church on sundays I would often go to Arby’s and get a turkey sandwich — paired with a mountain dew and curly fries - and journal about that days sermon to help it ‘sink in’ better. I miss those times of intentional reflection and am aiming intentionally to do better — I’m experimenting with speaking into an audio journal after/on a bike ride because I often do my best thinking on the bike… but so far am having issues with both accuracy and remembering to do it.
So in that spirit, this wednesday morning bible study has been great because it’s very focused on the Word — it’s also cool be back at a ‘very focused’ bible study for the first time since about 2018 for me. So this time after the study I did some reflecting and in the spirit of ‘talking for biblical characters’ tried to think of one verse for main biblical figures:
Paul: to live is Christ to die is gain.
Nehemiah: Lord, strengthen my hands.
Peter: tell me to come to you on the water.
Jesus: I am the way, the truth and the life
Paul: With my Tuesday evening bible study group with a group of guys from San Jose (hence the name of this blog) we went through Romans in the past year or so and while an incredibly dense and convicting book, it also spurred further reading up on Paul. Probably because he came from ‘the outside’ Paul definitely was tough on himself for committing any type of sin. So while I thought about focusing on verses like, “For all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God,” I felt that Paul’s primary message is reaching the lost for Christ, and the message that we have to give up ourselves in order to fully experience the grace of Christ while we are living on earth.
Nehemiah: I’ve previously written that reading Nehemiah somewhat changed my life between freshman and sophomore summer of college as I read it at a summer camp serving kids during a pivotal time in life. It tells the story of Nehemiah wanting to ask the king to go back to Jerusalem and rebuild the city. But before he does, in Nehemiah 6:9 he prays simply, “Lord, now strengthen my hands,” which I found so inspiring that in whatever we do. if we want it to be God-centered we should be taking pause to put away our ego first and ask for strength from God.
Peter: We were reading in Ephesians recently about how first Peter received a vision (the ‘sheet from heaven’) to spread the Gospel to the Gentiles, then later got called out by Paul for not hanging out with Gentiles when other Jewish leaders were around. Poor Peter is also famous for denying Christ three times after he said he wouldn’t… and of course for stepping out onto the water in faith… then almost sinking. So I chose that moment to capture because I just love the enthusiasm and willingness to trust into the unknown.
Jesus: So often Jesus is caricatured into whatever image we want Him to be in — a liberal hippie, a gun and anti-abortion activist — etc. I’m sure there could be better quotes, but to me everything about Jesus was pointing to others that we should put God first in everything we do which by that very nature means putting ourselves last… exemplified by Christ dying for us/our sins because that’s how we see God’s kingdom come.
