A TOOL FOR GROWING TOGETHER WHEN APART
One of the mysteries of God’s nature is that he is one in three persons.
While our human minds cannot fully comprehend that mystery, one of its components is something we can, in part, understand. It’s woven into the very fabric of our being, directly from His Image.
The Father, Son, and Spirit exist in perfect relationship, and we’ve inherited a reflection of that nature. To be human is to be in relationship. We were created to be in relationship with him and with each other. Jesus came to restore that relationship between us and the Father. We receive the Spirit to dwell in relationship directly with us when we accept Jesus as our Savior. And outside that divinity, we are driven to create relationships with one another.
They are critical to our health and overall survival.
Right now, as we all attempt to do our part to combat the spread of COVID-19 through social distancing practices, interpersonal connection feels under attack. Relationships can be challenging under normal conditions, but the impact of these new distance constrictions can add additional stress to those relationships and to ourselves.
Fortunately, we are blessed to live in a place and time where technology gives us the opportunity to maintain relationships regardless of distance. I’d like to share about one such technology in the hopes that it might be a tool to grow in your relationship with the God who longs to be in relationship with you. It is also a tool that you can use in the coming weeks to continue to grow spiritually and to grow relationally with others despite physical distance.
Recently, I finished a 100-day bible study with a group of guys from my House Church, and we never met in person for the study. We did it completely asynchronously through the YouVersion Bible app.
YOUVERSION BIBLE APP
YouVersion is a popular Bible reading application for mobile devices and the web. It also has a feature they call “Plans” which functions similar to a devotional or Bible study. These are curated Plans, and they can be shared with others.
Credit: https://blog.youversion.com/
We selected a Plan about the life of Jesus called “One on One: 100 Days with Jesus”.
Overall, I know that we were all impacted and grew in some way.
The daily time commitment was light, but meaningful. I typically completed it before work everyday. We all missed days, sometimes weeks, when life did it’s thing. But catching up wasn’t hard, and it was encouraging to get notifications as others added their thoughts on a day’s discussion.
Credit: https://blog.youversion.com/
Credit: https://blog.youversion.com/
The YouVersion Plans I’ve done have all had some scripture to read. Devotional style Plans will include additional related content to read along with the scripture.
Many of their Plans are in the 5-15 day range and cover many topics. There are also several “read the Bible” type Plans too, which focus on reading through certain books or the entire Bible over a set amount of time.
Credit: https://blog.youversion.com/
When you need some space or personal time with God, take a look and see if you’re led to select a Plan for just you and Him. Most of my experiences with Plans have been like that. A challenge or struggle comes up in life and a scroll through the Plans list landed me on a specific topic, which was exactly what I needed to walk with him through that time.
If you would like more information about how to start and manage a shared plan, please follow this link to read YouVersion’s step-by-step how-to guide.
You can find new Plans in their reading plans, or in the “Plans” section on their mobile app.
FIND THE MOBILE APP:
Apple App Store
What Reading Plans have you found helpful?
- Ben Erickson