How many times have you been like me in swinging by a fast food place to pick up a couple of burgers to eat on the go from one place to another, absentmindedly wolfing down the food to get a little nourishment in the system? That approach is not unlike our daily feeding from the Word of God. We do it because we're supposed to, knowing it's good for us. But how much nourishment do we receive from that spiritual food when we eat it on the go, barely tasting it, or with our engine impatiently idling?
In 2 Timothy 2:1 Paul says this to his young charge, "You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus." Typically, our eyes skim that sentence, take it in to some degree, resonate with it a bit and move on. However, just what does it mean to be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ? How do we go about being strengthened by it? Is there a distinction to be made between the grace of Christ and the grace that is in Christ?
Then, almost as if reading our minds, Paul says a few verses later, "Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything" (2:7). If the questions raised by verse 1 made us tap the brakes, this call to think on makes us put it in park and turn off the engine. There is a command here not to just skim but to ruminate, with the enticement of the benefit of understanding from our Lord Himself.
What our God seems to be telling us here is that in order to receive greater benefit from our reading His Word, we need to be ready to ponder it. In expectation of our Lord Jesus granting understanding (including application), that pondering necessarily involves prayer in seeking and wrestling with Him over the truth He has set before us. In fact, we can say with conviction that prayer is the digestive juices by which we assimilate the milk and meat of God's Word for our spiritual nourishment and growth in grace.
2 comments:
Excellent post!
It's interesting how the Word of God is compared to food (mat 4:4, ezek 2:8). But in our fast-food culture the point can get lost.
When we scarf down Scripture without taking our time to taste and digest it, we end up with spiritual indigestion!
All too often we also have the wrong motivation in reading Scripture. In Reformed circles there's a good focus on education...but that can be a problem if the education takes the place of the ends rather than being used as a means to the end.
Reading and learning from the Bible should be done in an effort to draw close to Christ...to love Him more, to submit to Him more fully.
I am ashamed at how many times i have read Scripture without first determining to submit to what it says. I'm amazed at the pride that still flares up within me when i read Scripture so that others will consider me smart rather than so that i may draw closer to my Lord.
May God forgive the many ways I have abused the great gift of His Word. I pray that God would give His Church a hunger for His Word, a hunger whose root lies in the love of Christ rather than the love of self.
I think that needs to be our prayer as shepherds of the sheep under our care, that our God would work in their hearts a hunger for His Word and a thirst for the knowledge of Him. And may He begin with us.
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