Monday, March 13, 2017

Scripture Reading Leads to Growth

                I’m not much of a gardener or a green thumb.  I’m good with grass.  I can keep a yard looking great most of the time.  The times that I do struggle with my yard are when there are periods of drought.  It’s the same reason that I’m not very good with plants.  I’m not a waterer.  My idea of watering is for it rain every few days.  Occasionally, I’ll remember that something needs to be watered outside and I’ll give it a quick shot with the hose.  The truth of the matter is that I still probably don’t give plants enough water even when I do water them.  Well, the reality is that plants have to have water in order to grow.  That’s a fundamental need that they have in order to not only grow, but to not die.

                When it comes to our faiths, we need God.  We have to have God in order to not only grow in our relationship with Him, but we have to have Him in order to not spiritually die.  The question becomes how we receive God.  Well, God enters our hearts through the work of the Holy Spirit.  However, this is something that we have no control over, just as we have no control over how much it rains.  This is entirely a work of God.  However, there is another way that we receive God (or at least an understanding of Him) that places the burden upon us though…reading our Bibles.  You see, the Bible is fundamental for Christians.  Scripture is how we grow in our understanding of who God is, what He has done for us, and how we are to respond to Him.  Seriously devoting ourselves to a careful reading and study of His Word is how we grow in our faith. 

                Two texts that I think about quite often when it comes to what we do with Scripture are found in two Pauline epistles.  First, Romans 10:17 says, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”  Obviously, this verse has in view an aspect of preaching.  Well, preaching in its most fundamental and basic concept is and ought to be a study of God’s Word presented to God’s people.  The other text that often comes to mind is 2 Timothy 3:16-17, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.”  Every word, every punctuation, every “jot and tittle” as one of my seminary professors used to say (he’s from Belfast), is inspired and useful and beneficial for our growth as Christians. 


                Do you spend time in Scripture?  Let me ask that a different way; do you spend time studying Scripture?  I’m not talking about blowing through a daily reading of a chapter or two of God’s Word.  I’m talking about marinating over a text.  I’m talking about reading and re-reading and re-reading a text and wrestling with it both contextually and practically.  I’m talking about examining God’s Word and trying to discern what earth-shaking and life-saving truth exists within a passage.  I can already hear a lot of folks saying that they don’t have time for such a thorough handling of Scripture.  Ok, that’s fine; then just read less per day in order to read deeper.  We would be better served to only read a few verses a day and seriously wrestle with what God’s Word is actually saying than we would be with only a surface reading of an entire book in a day.  I want to challenge everyone to read God’s Word daily, and to read it seriously.  I want to challenge you to become so familiar with your Bible that it becomes almost an extension of yourself.  Also, feel free to bring it to church (a novel concept).  I can’t tell you all of the wonderful notes that I have written in the pages of my Bible that were penned during a good sermon or a time of profound teaching.  You wouldn’t show up for a Biology class without a text, nor would you show up to your Literature class without your copy of A Tale of Two Cities.  So, why would we show up to study God’s Word without the text?  I can promise you that as long as I’m the pastor of this church, we’re going to be studying God’s Word.  So, you might as well bring the book that we’re going to be using.