Art, whether taken in with the eyes or the ears, can be extremely detailed. A lot of times, the more you admire it, the more you grow to appreciate it. It could be the texture or a particular color used in a painting. Or it could be a quiet, melodious run in the background of a song. Whatever it is, at first observance, you may have missed it but once you notice it, you enjoy the art even more.

Now the Bible is not merely art. But since the Holy Spirit carried the human authors along so that it is divinely inspired through human language and literary style, it comes in a form that is beautiful and can be (and should be) appreciated. Each book of the Bible uniquely demonstrates this.

I say this to my shame; Mark had been my least favorite of the four gospel accounts. To me it seemed dry, cold, and disinteresting. I am glad I was wrong. The more I have been reading Mark, whether for sermon preparation or personal Bible reading, I have grown to appreciate how Mark uniquely and in captivating ways presents Jesus as the Son of God. For instance, this Sunday we begin a new section in Mark. You may recall, from 1:16-4:34, Mark records Jesus by the sea calling disciples to follow Him four separate times. Now the storyline moves from the shore to the perils of the sea with three sea crossings (4:35-8:26). What a brilliant way to communicate that following Jesus is never easy or safe, but we can be sure that Jesus will be with us through it all.

So I invite you to join me in growing in your love and appreciation of the Scriptures and of the Savior it proclaims. If you haven’t already, join the rest of the church in reading through the New Testament this year (It will be easy to catch up since each day is only one chapter of reading…and we are still in Mark!). Let’s ask God to continue to transform us as Jesus’ disciples.