I wrote this on my microblog, The Sketchpad, and figured to share it with my wider reading family.

It’s not everyday you get to teach God’s Word. It’s not everyday you get to teach the Book of Romans. It’s not everyday you get to teach the Book of Romans with folks you truly love and care about. And yet, that’s the position I find myself in of late. Here’s the backstory…

My good friend and brother in Christ, Stephen, whom I affectionately refer to as “Uncle” for reasons known only to me, approached me with a view to starting a Bible study, which is no surprise in the evangelical climate of today. We have Bible studies available for “a dime a dozen” as my American friends would be inclined to say. The difference was that we would be doing this Bible study on Skype – a peer-to-peer calling program which allows for group conversations. It sounded like a good idea, so I jumped on it. Stephen took the first study on Romans 1:1-17, which was thoroughly enjoyable, and then it was my turn. Being the type who cannot do anything fast at all, I began in verse 18-19, considering the difficult doctrine of the wrath of God. This week, in two parts, I covered verse 20, looking at the ideas of divine revelation and human responsibility.

Now I am no theologian, scholar, exegete or preacher. I am actually rather laborious, boring and quiet by nature, and that transfers to any sort of public forum – even if it’s a Bible study done over the computer. My wonderful friends who find themselves bearing with me will note that I have a thing for self-effacing humour as relates to my own ability – which they are very fond to speak kindly of. Add to that, an obsession with detail and it makes for quite a horrible experience listening to me drone on for 40-45 mins. Question is, why do it?

Well, dear friends, I would argue that I am being introduced to God’s own bootcamp as I sit down preparing two Bible studies a week in what is arguably one of the toughest books in the NT. I find myself being continually being humble as I consider these weighty truths (my next studies are verses 21-25 on Tuesday and 26-29 on Friday) as I confront the reality of not only my own insufficiency to function (something I figured out a while ago), but also the greater reality that this is not a chance for me to flex my theological muscle or show how smart I am. This is an opportunity to serve – to humbly help God’s people as best as a weird kid from East London can. Ultimately, it’s a good thing that I’m laborious, boring and quiet by nature – this is God’s way of stripping me of what pride lurks beneath the surface. As I grapple with the text, realising just how little I truly know of anything, I’m being continually made to understand just how infinite the mind of God is and just how finite and weak my own mind truly is. It’s like waking up from a dream and still figuring out you’re still asleep.

In the end, I couldn’t ask for a greater honour than to put on my Skype headset, open up the Scriptures and humbly serve a group of saints much greater and much more worthy than I. So folks, I’ll see y’all on Tuesday and thanks for the opportunity to serve…

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