Children who haven’t mastered the alphabet love picture books. So, to help instill specific truths when my children were preschool age, I created homemade Bible-verse flashcards. They were crude. Not any of the cutesy scrapbook symbols, glittery stick-ons or thick cardstock. Each card, I cut from poster board, contained a rebus on one side, pictures representing words or syllables, and the opposite side had the Bible verse in print.
One of the chosen scriptures was “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path” (Psalm 119:105). On the rebus side, I drew a Bible, lamp, bare feet, a flashlight and a winding road.
Their cards consisted of 50 scriptures that helped children learn godly behavior. My goal for them was not only memorization but also heart implanting. And I wanted that engraving of the heart to lead to godly actions and behavior. (My children are in their 40s, and yes those early lessons took root and grew. I love my babies so much. Yep. They are still my babes).
So, let’s talk Bible reading for adults and the intended journey the words are to make from the page to your heart to a live rebus. I love the Bible because it reveals God’s story and his loving and just interaction with us, who are created in his image. However, from years past, I know what tends to happen when I set goals to read so many chapters a day. On many occasions, my reading time will be interrupted. Often the entire day spirals beyond my control like a kite in hurricane winds.
Of course, those days have God’s fingerprints all over them. That’s when it’s time to lay the Bible down and start Bible practice. Get out the helping tools, and those might be a thermometer, a Crock-Pot, a car, a paintbrush, a listening ear, or hand-holding—any of those or more could be called into service.
While studying God’s word is important, so is practicing the text. Learning to read music is one thing, playing the melody is another. It’s the readers of God’s word who become enactors on the stage of the day who bring the Bible to life. Jesus lived the Golden Rule. To Jesus who healed and taught and befriended, God was more than rules on a scroll. At one time unbelieving men wanted to trap Jesus. They asked: Was it lawful to heal on the Sabbath? Jesus answered with a question. “If one of you has a son or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull him out?” (Luke 14:5). They gave no answer to his question. Even they knew the words on a scroll were to be enacted in everyday life, even on the Sabbath that they oppressed by their rules.
The southern states in the U. S. are referred to as the Bible Belt, the phrase originated during the late 1700’s when a wave of revivalism swept south of the Mason-Dixson Line. The term “Bible Belt” was born from a revival, not only because people were Bible-informed.
Because of illiteracy, prejudices, or other factors, some will never read the Bible. You can be a rebus, a demonstrator of God’s lavish love. Tuck some Bible under your belt this summer. A friend of mine simply reads a chapter a day, and about every three years, she’s read the entire Bible. What a great plan to get somewhere, to reach a goal.
Think of yourself as a living rebus and remember the journey that the inspired words will travel—from mind to heart to hands.
Bonus: Garden of Praise has images of some old published rebuses for Bible verses. http://gardenofpraise.com/images5/rebus1.jpg
