A.J. Jacobs is the editor-at-large for Esquire magazine. He grew up as a secular Jew and describes himself as an agnostic. He knew next to nothing about religion or the Bible. He thought, How can this 2,000- to 3,000-year-old book have any relevance to my life?
For a special assignment, he decided to find out if the teachings of the Bible could be followed literally, every jot and tittle. He spent one year eating Kosher, going to synagogue and resting on the Sabbath, growing a beard, and reading the Bible and praying every day. The result was the book THE YEAR OF LIVING BIBLICALLY.
He said it was the most fascinating year of his life. It also changed him in profound ways. He learned from the Bible to be much more thankful. He became more community-minded as opposed to individual-minded because the Bible is all about being a part of community.
One of his hardest lessons was forgiveness. For A.J., forgiveness is a really hard thing. Even when he did forgive, he forgave with an asterisk. He read in the New Testament where Paul says love does not keep score (1 Corinthians 13:5). He disobeyed this literally because, before his year, he had been keeping score of his wife’s arguments with him. Any time he would win an argument or she would make a mistake, A.J. would always jot those down in his Palm Pilot so that he could remember them.
The Bible taught him to get rid of that. He showed my wife the list, and she just laughed at him. Her response was amusement mixed with pity that he would even need to keep such a list. It took a commitment to a Bible-centered life to change this trait in him.
What could the Bible change in you?
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Adapted from Christianity Today International/LEADERSHIP Journal. Winter 2008, Vol. XXIX, No. 1, Page 17; copyright © 2008
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[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #2107]