Following Jesus I mean.<\/p>\n
It’s a path, not a formula, not a set of equations and not principles for good living that we wring out of God’s word to craft our lives apart from bowing before his throne.<\/p>\n
A new friend shared something with me several days ago.\u00a0 He was speaking of a mentor he had some years ago.\u00a0 His mentor taught him that math is a language, and that concept brought a life-changing moment to my friend, a dramatic shift that gave my him a perspective that he believes allows him to see things that others cannot.<\/p>\n
And I thought … hmmmm.\u00a0 We sometimes do the opposite.<\/p>\n
We take the language of the Bible, God’s message to us, and we reduce it to formulas and equations and principles.<\/p>\n
And it seems okay if we don’t give it much thought.\u00a0 What could be so wrong with going to the Bible and figuring out principles to live by.\u00a0 Doesn’t seem so bad, maybe even good.<\/p>\n
But as a result we do not see things that we should see.\u00a0 In fact we sometimes see our world just like everybody else does.\u00a0 We don’t have God’s perspective on life; we have our perspective on life as wrangled from his holy words.<\/p>\n
Because we misunderstand and omit a key element – the fear of the LORD.<\/p>\n
We don’t take wisdom by our wits and our study.\u00a0 We receive wisdom as we bow before God.\u00a0 We can “take” knowledge about God.\u00a0 We can fashion formulas and spiritual equations.<\/p>\n
But in doing so we miss the words that would come to us “from his mouth.”<\/p>\n
Should we study God’s word?\u00a0 Yes.<\/p>\n
Is that a good thing?\u00a0 Only if we are not counting on our study to provide wisdom instead of our study deepening our relationship with a God who will speak those very words written on the pages of our Bibles directly to us.<\/p>\n
A God who will press those words deeply into our hearts.<\/p>\n
May I ask?\u00a0 When is the last time you read or studied the Bible and you were wowed because you knew the words were “from his mouth?”<\/p>\n
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Following Jesus I mean. It’s a path, not a formula, not a set of equations and not principles for good living that we wring out of God’s word to craft our lives apart from bowing before his throne. A new … Continue reading