Lately, while I've been in the word daily, I really haven't been in it like I've been in the past, at all. Though I had been reading alot (relatively for me) of Scripture, I had often been just wanting to get it done. I had developed a rut in which while I was reading Scripture, which is good, I was not relishing it as God's word, as I should.
I don't know if my recent blogging through John Frye's book, Out of Print, had an impact here; though I don't doubt it. But for awhile I essentially stopped reading Scripture altogether (like a couple weeks and a few days) except for the passages I would get into most every day, as well as my listening to The Bible Experience.
It was refreshing yesterday to get back into a renewed meditative reading in Scripture, and I know this is important for me. Of course I need to hear it in our worship gatherings, and apply it to life. But I also need to regularly, "day and night" be in it. After all, since it is God's word (or for any sceptics out there, if it is God's word), I need to make the effort to be reading/hearing it, so that God can do his work in me, and so that my life can be changed by it, and according to it. Changed by God of course.
The difference for me from the past is that I no longer have rigid set times daily that I keep, which I did keep for some time. But that I do so regularly, because I want to do so, and because I love God and God's word. And because I want to really meet with God during special times in a shorter passage, for prayer in waiting on God in giving him my praises (I need to improve there) and requests, and looking to God for his answers or working.
What about you? What does being in the word mean for you as one in Jesus, and what might help us that you've learned in this endeavor?
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6 comments:
Wonderful thoughts.
I want to be in the word all the time. I just can't get enough...
good post.
the book really was good for having a different view on how we see the bible and really want and need it in our life.
i suppose everyone needs to listen for a balance in time spent in any given place.
Kinney,
Yes, that's the way I feel as well. Though there are times I can seemingly be sabotaged from that, I'm afraid (inside and out).
Thanks.
Nancy,
Thanks. Yes, that book is thought provoking, God probably using it more in my life than I could imagine.
That's not easy (balance in time) and I'm sure varies from person to person. But I think in the past I was off balance in listening to or being in the word that way- alot, and not seeking to live it out especially at home- enough.
I have to remember it's a relational matter at heart, first towards God and then towards my neighbor beginning of course, at home.
WOW- It is good to stop by again! I have been so head deep in school- finishing my degree- working, interning, and still trying to be 22 and having a social life- I hardly have time to keep up with the blog world!
And keeping in Gods word is also tough, but something I love. What I have chosen to do is to read through the epistles all at once every day for 30 days. I love it- reading it once helps because its like reading a letter- and doing it every day or at least a few times a week really allows me to learn the scripture without forcing it. Naturally it becomes a habit and then, naturally the information just sticks!
Betsy Lin,
Thanks for stopping by. Good to hear from you.
I really like that idea of spending a concentrated amount of time in one part of Scripture. I'm doing that this week in Ephesians. I would like to do more of that in creative ways. But we need that exposure to God's word to get it to stick to our minds and into our hearts, and also in an interactive, relational sense with God and God's kingdom in Jesus at work. Of course I know you know this even at your young age, as I've read on your blog.
I need it just to keep going, but I also need to do more than just keep going, but to keep growing towards Christlikeness in community with other in Jesus, and in the ongoing mission we have in Jesus to the world.
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