Broccoli
I like broccoli a lot, but didn’t always like broccoli.
It used to be something that I tolerated, because I knew it was good for me.
I didn’t hate it or anything. I just considered it palatable only when covered in gobs of ranch, or cheese.
Then one say everyting changed.
I found a recipie, that sugested roasting brocoli with olive oil and garlic on high heat for a short time.
It was an absolute game changer in my relationship with brocoli.
Suddenly i could eat broccoli as a main course, center stage in a dish, and really enjoy it for what it is! This recipie even helped me appreciate other dishes with broccoli in them, because I feel like I know what the broccoli flavor is really all about now.
Why an I telling you this?
I feel like a lot of people have a relationship with scripture that is like my relationship to broccoli. We know it is good for us, but we don’t enjoy it. We stuff it down when we can, by serving it alongside worship songs and didactic sermons. We read “devotionals” instead of scritures, and we tell ourselfs they count because they mention scripture verses in them, but we don’t stop and ask ourselfs why the scriptures cannot be the main course.
We don’t like the taste.
That’s the reason. And it’s a legitimate one. We find it boring, or confusing, or irrelevant, or bitter. So we make sure to cover the taste with something sweet or cheesy, and then show off our clean plate.
But I think there is a way to serve scripture as a main course that people authentically love, and don’t have to pretend be fine with. I thinks that’s how scripture got to be scripture in the first place. I think that if we dispense with the search for dressings, and set about figuring our how to roast it right, we will change people’s relationship to the Word of God.
I just haven’t figured out what it is yet.
This analogy, more than anything else, closley describes what I hope to do with my life of ministry.
Find that broccoli recipie for every book in scripture, and teach it to people.