eat it.
the other day i had revelation.
for so many years of my life, i've wondered why i can read something (and in this case i'm thinking of the Bible), feel deeply impacted by it, only to then forget what i've read a few minutes later. i always thought that was some failing of mine growing up, and it often discouraged me from reading the word of God...because I thought it wasn't really helping me after all if i could forget it so easily.
some of the writers of the scriptures compare the word of god to food. the analogy is drawn that knowing and studying the word of god is like eating a choice meal. even jesus talks about he himself being the word, the bread of life, the living water...all these symbols that intertwine to convey the message the getting to know jesus through the study of the bible is a sustaining, life-giving behavior.
so i thought about how i eat throughout the day. i don't then spend every other waking second thinking about what i ate, how the components of that particular meal will break down in my digestive system, benefiting my muscles and brain cells and blood flow. i dont think "cucumber. avocado. bacon. bread. cheese. water." on a repetitive cycle. i simply eat because that's the only way my body can continue functioning at it's highest level. i eat. then i get on with my day. the food, and my body, do the rest to make sure i'm getting what i need (assuming i'm not eating swedish fish and lemon heads every mea).
so my revelation was that the word of god is the same. we are instructed by christ and others to read it, not because we have to then remember it verbatim 2 hours later, or be able to articulate things clearly at any given moment (although these are things to work towards). something about just reading the word of god as a form of discipline, as a behavior much like eating or drinking, benefits us abundantly. the word of god is alive, so when we ingest is through reading or listening to someone else read it, we are feeding our spirits. we are giving our spirits the food they were made to run on. we are simply called to study it, to know it. then the innate power of god's word does the rest.
my dad said that when he was a rebellious young man, he began to feel god reaching out to him and he wasn't interested. so he told god "i'll give you 5 minutes a day." and so, for 5 minutes each day he'd read the bible. soon after god completely revolutionized his life, and he's not turned back. but it's because he still reads the bible, every single day. i dare say not a day has gone by since then where he hasn't read the word of god.
A car is made to run on gasoline, and it would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other.
cs lewis.
for so many years of my life, i've wondered why i can read something (and in this case i'm thinking of the Bible), feel deeply impacted by it, only to then forget what i've read a few minutes later. i always thought that was some failing of mine growing up, and it often discouraged me from reading the word of God...because I thought it wasn't really helping me after all if i could forget it so easily.
some of the writers of the scriptures compare the word of god to food. the analogy is drawn that knowing and studying the word of god is like eating a choice meal. even jesus talks about he himself being the word, the bread of life, the living water...all these symbols that intertwine to convey the message the getting to know jesus through the study of the bible is a sustaining, life-giving behavior.
so i thought about how i eat throughout the day. i don't then spend every other waking second thinking about what i ate, how the components of that particular meal will break down in my digestive system, benefiting my muscles and brain cells and blood flow. i dont think "cucumber. avocado. bacon. bread. cheese. water." on a repetitive cycle. i simply eat because that's the only way my body can continue functioning at it's highest level. i eat. then i get on with my day. the food, and my body, do the rest to make sure i'm getting what i need (assuming i'm not eating swedish fish and lemon heads every mea).
so my revelation was that the word of god is the same. we are instructed by christ and others to read it, not because we have to then remember it verbatim 2 hours later, or be able to articulate things clearly at any given moment (although these are things to work towards). something about just reading the word of god as a form of discipline, as a behavior much like eating or drinking, benefits us abundantly. the word of god is alive, so when we ingest is through reading or listening to someone else read it, we are feeding our spirits. we are giving our spirits the food they were made to run on. we are simply called to study it, to know it. then the innate power of god's word does the rest.
my dad said that when he was a rebellious young man, he began to feel god reaching out to him and he wasn't interested. so he told god "i'll give you 5 minutes a day." and so, for 5 minutes each day he'd read the bible. soon after god completely revolutionized his life, and he's not turned back. but it's because he still reads the bible, every single day. i dare say not a day has gone by since then where he hasn't read the word of god.
A car is made to run on gasoline, and it would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other.
cs lewis.
love your thoughts on this... so true. (now hear "true" in the way kent watson would say it.)
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