As promised, here is a post that was inspired by a sermon series I heard from Pastor and writer, Chuck Swindoll. He is one of my favourite preachers for both his conversational style and studied content, and I find I always glean something from his messages. This series was no different.
He spoke for several days on the importance of God's Word. Many things stood out to me, but the biggest impression I was left with was the need for all Christians to independently and intentionally study the scriptures for ourselves. Many of us I'm sure have and hopefully use some of the innumerable daily devotional publications that are out there - "Our Daily Bread", "My Upmost for His Highest", "Quest" (!!!), internet offerings, and more. These are great tools that augment our study of scripture, but they cannot be a replacement for looking at the actual Word of God for ourselves.
It is so easy and convenient to allow other believers, often great scholars with far more impressive credentials than our own, to do the study, the work, the chewing for us and then consume the pureed product set before us. Again, there is nothing wrong with these tools when used to assist us, But Rev. Swindoll implored all believers to dig in for themselves. Bite off a piece of succulent meat, the biblical kind, and chew it up for yourself. Enjoy a juicy mouthful allowing the flavours to titillate your tastebuds, then swallow and let the food digest as you gain every advantage the morsel has to offer. Let the vitamins and nutrients enrich your soul. Then, when you are ready, dig in for another bite.
Deut. 17:18,19 gives instruction for the king of Israel. These instructions are appropriate for us all:
Also it shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom,
that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book,
from the one before the priests, the Levites.
And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life,
that he may learn to fear the Lord his God
and be careful to observe all the words of this law
and these statutes
No comments:
Post a Comment