Love Your Bible

At first glance, the title Love Your Bible may strike the casual browser as odd. They may be inclined to think “Of course I love my Bible!” or “Don’t all believers love their Bible?” However, in this brief book Gary Neal Hansen brings to life the words of Psalm 119:97 “O, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long!”

While some readers may have heard of lectio divina, others may not be familiar with this ancient practice. Hansen beings with a brief history of lectio divina and its role in Christian history. Of particular interest is the fact that Benedictine monks were required to spend 2 hours a day practicing this discipline and four hours during the winter. As very few of us today have the opportunity to commit that many hours to this practice, Hansen spends the remainder of this book breaking down the steps of lectio divina for today’s readers. A single chapter is devoted to each of lectio divina’s four parts. Throughout the book Hansen uses examples from Psalm 1:1 to help the reader practice the steps.

Readers will gain much by reading through the entire book once rather quickly to obtain the full breadth of the book and to become familiar with lectio divina. After this first brief reading, readers can engage in a second slower reading in which they practice this discipline. To obtain the most from this resource, you simply cannot just read the words on the page but must put them into practice. Fortunately, this book is slim enough to keep with your Bible, perhaps tucked into your Bible cover, to refer to often.

At the end of Love Your Bible, Hansen suggests that readers could practice lectio divina on a single verse of the Psalms each day which would take roughly six years. This suggestion may sound ludicrous to our fast paced, speed of light society, yet following this suggestion will profit those who accept it in the long run.

Hopefully you are now wondering "Where can I get a copy of this book?" Well, I'm glad you asked. This book is available on Amazon in a print copy as seen in the picture above. Or you can obtain this book as a FREE download via author Gary Neal Hansen's blog. And, I have a copy I can give away. Comment below indicating why you would like a free signed copy of this book and how you would use it in ministry.

I received a complimentary download of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.