40 days of Reading the Bible by a Clueless, Wandering, Wannabe Christian

21 March, Day 36: John 8: 21-30 Nobody wants to be reminded about the presence of sin in their lives. It is more pervasive than we want to acknowledge or admit. But, wanting to be aware of it is far away from our thoughts. How many of us take the time to actively reflect and examine ourselves and our lives everyday - our thoughts, acts and behaviour? Nobody has the time or mindspace to spend on this kind of thing. Why face all these uncomfortable truths about ourselves? What is the purpose? It's quite uncomfortable to pay attention to and dwell on our weaknesses, so why even go there? Isn't life hard as it already is, without the need for all this self-imposed prodding and introspection. In fact, most of us are quite comfortable with the fact that we live pretty decent lives. We tend to follow the rules. We help people when we can and when it's convenient to us. We don't treat others very unkindly. Most of us are not inclined to, steal, kill or do something ex...

28 February, Day 15: Mathew 20:17-28 It's time for petty admissions. I worry a little about being perceived as 'religious'. (Not that I am anywhere close to actually being religious.) Which is fair considering I've already had a few jokey/I don't get it reactions about this blog, from people  close to me, which I've had to forcefully grin and shrug off, while pretending that it didn't affect me. After all, I've been there myself. Haven't we all come across that person who send endless religious forwards on your family's Whatsapp group, when we least want or expect it? There are others who post quotes from religious Scriptures or post deep or pseudo-spiritual messages on their Facebook status - which is as an unwelcome interruption when you're immersed in that cat video or a genuinely hilarious Buzzfeed video. People don't want to be bombarded with 'Godly' things when they are out and about doing 'worldy' stuff...

15 February - Day 2: Luke 9: 22-25 So today, I didn't struggle to wake up or anything, but I did feel quite distracted in the morning and all over the place and numb! I felt like a fraud and forced to be "good" Floated downstairs like a ghost, and then a bit later, I started my session which my my  morning music  (shared by a close friend - Gospel music is not something I usually gravitate towards). As usual, the music helped me gather myself to listen, but I had to struggle to remind myself why I was doing this.  I was groggy, displeased with my weak morning coffee, and was very aware of hunger-induced tummy rumblings. (The last of which, I always give huge importance to!) Feeling  more like a CWWC than ever, I picked up the Bible and forced myself to read the words from Luke 9: 22-2 5, and this line jumped out: "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me". --------------- Thoughts: Again, I...