I used to say often, “Content is King.” Now I believe consistency is more important. Just like physical exercise: doesn’t matter how much you do, just show up and don’t put up a “0”. Do it.
Last Tuesday, our weekly Bible study group completed our “season” of Bible study. Our season is generally the school year, and we take summers off, getting together once or twice over the summer just to catch up before we begin meeting again after Labor Day.
Last Tuesday, we completed our 22nd year of weekly Bible study.
We concluded this year with Proverbs 4:23
Above all else, guard your heart,
for everything you do flows from it.
This morning, I did a search to find “Bible verses about consistency”, and Google, of all sources, pointed me to Proverbs 4:23, saying, “This verse emphasizes the importance of maintaining a consistent and guarded heart, as it shapes one’s actions and decisions.“
I didn’t want to lead a Bible study when we began back in 2003. We had just moved back to Atlanta from Colorado, and I called our small group leader from before we moved in 2000. I said, “We’d like to rejoin the small group.”
He said, “No.”
I knew he wasn’t being mean, because I knew him and his character, which was always, always very straightforward but just as nice as can be.
He continued, “No, you’re not going to join us again. You’re gonna start and lead your own small group Bible study.”
A couple of weeks later, we did just that. And while only one other person remains from that original small group, we’ve met consistently every Tuesday for 22 years.
We’ve studied Genesis, Hosea, Jude, John, Malachi, Ephesians, Galatians, Colossians, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, Nehemiah, Esther, Proverbs, Joel, Amos, Jonah, Malachi, Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Philippians, 1 John.
We’ve prayed and cried and laughed through marriage, divorce, death, birth, adoption, cancer, surgery, unemployment, failure, success, and everything else life has thrown at us.
There were Tuesday afternoons when I didn’t want to l do it. But I always prepared and showed up. We even had a few Tuesdays early on when almost nobody could make it (life happens), and we made a rule: “It’s Tuesday, so we’re having Bible study, whether 2 or 20 show up.” That provided a great deal of clarity.
There were summers when I considered stopping. “It’s been a good run”, I said to myself. I’ve talked with our small group pastor on numerous occasions, asking “How do you know when it’s time to quit?”
Just like anything else in this life of being a Jesus follower, you’ll know, because God will make it abundantly clear.
The one thing God has made abundantly clear to me is that He is in control of this small group, and I am His steward. He has called me to show up every Tuesday, tired or uninspired, and He will do the work.
Just like Jonah, after he ran literally the opposite direction that God told him to go, showed up and said the words, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” All Jonah did was show up, and quite begrudgingly at that!
God did the rest. Amen.
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