Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Anorexic Christians

Yesterday, I had a two hour conversation that went nowhere. Interesting because the man I was speaking to had left ‘church’ some 15 years ago. I’d assumed that since both of us were on a similar journey that we would have much to share. I realised I had been mistaken.

A question as simple as, “What do you do in your free time?” invited an effusive explanation of how unconventional and controversial he was in his understanding of God and His ways. In the course of our conversation, he said he didn’t need to read the Bible because he could hear directly from God. (He admitted he’d read it about 3 times in the entire 50 some years of his life.) When I shared that I felt I needed to read the gospels again, he became uncomfortable. He then told me to respect him because he had left religion and church much earlier than I did and therefore was wiser. When I explained that I saw him as my equal, he was clearly uncomfortable and said so. At the end, he left saying I should ask God for confirmation that what he’d said was valid and true.

Many great men of God have given their lives to defend the written word we call the Bible. William Tyndale stands out in my mind. He was strangled and burnt at the stake because he would not bow to the religious order of his day. He wanted to give us a translation that was true and paid with his life. Martin Luther gave the people the Bible in their common language. When people began to read and understand the Word of God, there was a major revival.

John’s gospel calls Jesus the Word who existed with God from the very beginning. Jesus Himself often quoted from the writings of Moses and the prophets and explained them to his disciples. He overcame temptation with Scripture. The early apostles preached to the crowds using the Scriptures. The early believers stayed true to the teachings of the early apostles. The book of Revelation ends with a warning not to add or subtract from the testimony of John as given by God.

God speaks to us through His Son. His Son speaks to us through His Word. The late John McKay wrote that God’s Word is the expression of God’s Thought, revealed in His Son. Jesus rebuked the Jewish leaders for reading the scriptures but rejecting Him whom the scriptures spoke about. This then brings me to this conclusion.

Reading the scriptures without a relationship with Jesus yields very little.
Having a relationship with Jesus without reading the scripture also yields very little.

To say that God speaks to us through the bible only when we are infants but discards it to speak to us directly is unthinkable. To say we have read it before and therefore don’t need to read it again is pure arrogance and ingratitude.

Psalm 1
But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither, whatever he does prospers
.

Many churches will teach you a formula. But you can follow it and still remain as ignorant as ever. So I won’t tell you to do that.

I will tell you to read the scriptures, bind it to your mind and to your heart. Read it, chew on it, digest it and ask the Holy Spirit to make it clear to you. He is the best tutor! If you have no time to read, then listen to it. The moment we think we can dispense with it, we are in danger of starving to death spiritually. Don’t believe everything from the pulpit just because it is coming out of the pastor’s mouth. A speaker once said that Christians are the only people who will believe something they have never read for themselves. How pathetic is that?

Build on the foundation of Christ’ words. Anything else is flimsy and weak. If you think you don’t need to read the Word of God, try not eating for a day. See how long you last. What kind of Christians will we be if we can go for months and years without spiritual nourishment?

Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

Every word means all of His words. Ancient authors penned words that are still relevant to us today. They can never be redundant. Jesus said, “Heaven and earth will pass away but my words will never pass away.”

In many bibles, the words of Jesus are highlighted in red for easy reference. Do you know them? Can you quote them? Do you understand them? More importantly, do you obey them?

Or are you an anorexic Christian?