Chance the Rapper — whose real name is Chancelor Johnathan Bennett — is taking some time off to study the Bible, a book he admitted he is “very unfamiliar with.”
For many Christians, Chance is a household name. Many of his songs allude to faith, and in 2017, Chance told Teen Vogue, “I don’t make Christian rap, but I am a Christian rapper.”
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Now, he’s planning to take some time to get to know the God he’s rapped about. Though the 25-year-old recording artist already has a daughter of his own, Chance’s decision to study Scripture came after the birth of his nephew, Charlie Matthew.
“I’ve been brought up by my family to know Christ, but I haven’t taken it upon myself to really just take a couple days and read my Bible,” he wrote in a post on Instagram. “We all quote Scripture and tell each other what God likes and doesn’t like, but how much time do we spend as followers of Jesus to really just read and KNOW his Word?”
“I’m definitely guilty of not devoting time to it,” Chance added. “So I’m off to read and learn because the next generation of Bennett is here.”
Over the weekend, Chance also posted a photo of his 3-year-old daughter Kensli walking into a church. In the caption of the photo, he wrote, “Train up a child in the way she should go,” a reference to Proverbs 22:6.
The well-known rapper credited Kensli in 2015 for restoring his faith in God. When she was in utero, Chance’s daughter suffered from atrial flutters, a condition in which the upper chambers of the heart beat too quickly.
“It made me pray a whole lot, you know, and need a lot of angels and just see s*** in a very, like, direct way,” he told GQ. “And … you know, God bless everything, it worked out well.”