When the Bible Got Real for Me

A boat on the Sea of Galilee (in fact the same sort of ship in which I sailed )

In my first year of college, I had the immense privilege of traveling to the Holy Land (specifically- Turkey, Jordan, and Israel). This opportunity came about through the Berkshire Institute for Christian Studies, our denomination’s one-year Bible institute of which I was a student. It continues to be offered as part of their program and I’d highly encourage parents and college students to check it out, even if there is no interest in vocational ministry (most BICS students have no intention of being pastors). On the whole, BICS has a lot to offer students in helping them grow in their faith.

I grew in my faith when I went on the “BICS trip” to the Holy Land. However, that growth came about in a way that I did not at all expect when I set out on the trip. We visited some amazing sites in our travels. I walked among the ruins of Ephesus, down the same streets Paul once walked. I stood on Mt. Nebo, where Moses himself once stood as he gazed upon the Promised Land. I sailed on the Sea of Galilee, the same Sea that Jesus once walked upon. My classmates and travel companions reveled in the experience and their faith seemed to be immediately uplifted by everything they encountered.

The same could not be said for me.

Up to that point in my life, the world of Bible had been mostly other-worldly to me. It was so far away from my lived experience, that while I believed everything it described was real, the events seemed as distant and foreign as imagining Santa making toys in his workshop in the North Pole. Standing on the shore of Galilee, I was confronted by the concrete claims of Scripture. Either Jesus walked on these waters or he didn’t. The stories were real or they were false.

I wasn’t expecting doubt when I left for this trip. I expected my soul to sing like some Southern Gospel song. Instead, I was left to wrestle and try to sort out why I was getting pummeled. By the end of the trip, I had mostly figured it out. The doubts hit me so hard because the concrete truth claims of Scripture possess so much gravity that your life must be altered one way or another. My Santa’s Village version of the World of the Bible could not stand. The World of the Bible had to either be the real world or utterly, ridiculously false. 

I was convinced it wasn’t false, but when I examined myself, I wasn’t as confident that I had taken seriously enough the claims of Scripture. I was believing, but it was like the concrete reality of those beliefs had yet to sink in. It’s not all that hard to consider this for yourself. Just ask yourself the following:

Would the way I live my life look any different if I saw Jesus walk out of the tomb?

Would the way I live my life look any different if I was confronted by Jesus just like Paul was on the road to Damascus?

Would the way I live my life look any different if I could go into the future and witness Christ’s return and the restoration of all things?

 I can’t answer those questions for you, but I’ll say, even at this point, that I think my life would look different! My priorities from moment to moment would look different. My anger, sorrows and joys from moment to moment would probably look different. And that pains me, because it says that I have yet to fully appreciate the full reality standing behind my beliefs. But rather than despairing, I take this recognition as a challenge to dig in deeper. I take it as a challenge to preach to myself, to sit myself down and reprioritize my life in light of the concrete reality of Jesus Christ. I have to do this again and again.

I suspect the same is true for you. Don’t despair! It’s tempting to avoid asking ourselves those tough questions (who wants to make themselves feel bad?), but it is so important for us to get real about our faith and the way we’re living our lives. if our lives aren’t completely shaped by the reality of Jesus Christ, then we’re settling for a sub-par and confused life. If we shelve Jesus under the category of “Personal Beliefs” and keep him there, then we’re numbing ourselves to the critical reality that every person needs to be reconciled to God. Believe in him or not, Jesus is real. As real as the sun, moon, and stars, as real as the United States of America, as real as that cereal you ate this morning. He is King. He is King, whether we like it or not, and He is coming again, whether we are ready or not.

God knows how we fail to fully grasp this, how it doesn’t impact us as it should, and he has grace enough for us in Christ. As we embrace the full reality of that grace, let us pray that the full reality of everything God has done and will do will make its weight felt on every aspect of our lives. Let us never stop praying, never stop striving, to get real.