Category Archives: Christian Life

Reading and the Christian – Part 6

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Meditation is an essential aspect of the Christian life and is based on reading. Meditation is the chewing over of Scripture in our minds, focusing on it, thinking about what it means in context and to ourselves. It involves looking at it from multiple angles and reflecting on it repeatedly so that it’s truth can impact our souls.

Success and prosperity (in the spiritual sense) is promised for consistent meditation. See Joshua 1:8 and Psalm 1:2 as examples of this. In the Psalms passage the person who meditates on Scripture is described as a living, fruitful tree growing next to a stream of water, whereas the rest are described as dry chaff which the wind blows away.

The Psalmist tells us that meditation improves understanding. (Ps 49:3)

David meditated continually on the commands and statutes of God. (Psalm 119:15, 23, 27, 38, 78, 97, 99, 148)

Timothy was urged to meditate on certain truths and give himself completely to them. (I Timothy 4:15)

Paul told the Philippians to meditate on things that are true, lovely, noble, etc. in Philippians 4:8.

Finally, God is writing a book of remembrance of those who meditate on His Name. (Mal 3:16). That’s kind of amazing to think about the fact that God is actually creating a memory book filled with the names of people who meditate on Him. Wow!

Why is reading important? Because meditating is important and it is hard to conceive of meditating on the Word of God if we can’t read it. How are you doing in the area of biblical meditation?

Reading and the Christian – Part 5

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The Bible teaches us that the word of God is spiritually discerned. I Corinthians 2:13-14 tell us that the natural man (that is the man who is not born again) does not receive the things of the Spirit. They are foolish to him because they are spiritually discerned. The Bible is one of those things that is spiritually discerned.

In 2 Corinthians 3:15 we are told that every time Moses was read to the people, they were not able to understand it because Satan had put a veil over their heart to keep them from understanding the truth. Only when a person comes to Christ is that veil taken away and the Word can be understood.

2 Corinthians 3:15 tells us that it take the illumination of God to bring understanding just as it took the word of God to create light in the first place.

So here is an interesting question. Can someone who cannot read and understand the natural meaning of the text of Scripture still have the illumination of the Spirit to understand the word. Let’s take an extreme. If you had a Bible in front of you in a language that you did not speak or read, would the Holy Spirit still open up the spiritual meaning to you as you sounded out the words? Let’s say I gave you a German Bible and you don’t understand German. As you pronounce the words to the best of your ability will the Holy Spirit give you the understanding you need?

I maintain that the answer to that question is “no”. It’s my opinion that it takes a natural understanding of the text first in order to be illuminated by the Spirit for the spiritual understanding to occur. This is why Christians over the years have worked very hard and spent millions of dollars to make the Scriptures available to people in their native languages.

My point in bringing this up is that we need to do all we can for ourselves and our children to make sure that we learn to read to the best of our ability. There are many practical ways in which reading is being diminished in our video culture and we must make sure that our children and our families are able to read well so that they can understand what God is saying through His Word.

Reading and the Christian – Part 4

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The passages I have alluded to in the last couple of posts come from the Old Testament. What about the New Testament?

In the book of Matthew, Jesus says at least 6 times, “Have you not read…” He expects that his listeners would have read the Bible and know what it said. How else would they know what God was saying to them?

In the early church, Phillip went out to the desert and came upon an Ethiopian who was reading the Old Testament. Phillip’s first words to him were, “Do you understand what you are reading?” (Acts 8:30) If you go back and look kat the situation in Nehemiah 8 you will find that there is great emphasis on the fact that people were to gain an understanding of what was being read. There is no point in reading if one does not understand the meaning of the text. This point seems obvious, but is up for debate these days among the post-modernists. More on that in a future post.

In Ephesians 3:4 Paul tells the church that when they read, they will understand the mystery of what God was doing through the Gospel. When Paul sent letters to Colossae and Thessalonica he asked that those letters be read in all the churches. (Colossians 4:17; I Thess 5:27)

When Paul wrote to Timothy he admonished him to give attention to reading. (I Timothy 4:13)

In Revelation 1:3 John says that there is a blessing on those who read that book.

Finally, Paul, when writing to Timothy asks him to bring his scrolls and parchments. (@ Timothy 4:13)

As we can see from these New Testament passages, reading played a central role in the understanding of the early Christians. God had given His word and great was the company of those that published it.

How are you doing on your reading of Scripture? Is it a consistent practice in your life? How about in your church? Is the Scripture read in the hearing of the people so that they will know what God has said?

Reading and the Christian – Part 3

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Last time we looked at the expectation that the Israelites would gather together for the reading of the law in their hearing. Today we look at an example of that recorded in Nehemiah 8.

It would probably be best if you read the narrative yourself, but here are the highlights.

The people gathered together in the open square and Ezra the priest brought the Law to be read to them. The assembly consisted of men, women and all who could hear with understanding. The people stood for this reading. We are told that all of the people were attentive to the Book of the Law as it was read to them.

Ezra stood on a platform along with several of the leaders of Israel. The book was read distinctly and the sense of it was explained to the people in order to help them understand the reading. This reading took place from morning until midday. We don’t know what time that would be in our terms, but I would think at least 9 until noon. Perhaps 8 until 2 or something like that.

On another day a similar session was held which lasted for one fourth of the day. On another fourth of the day they confessed and worshiped the Lord.

We can see from these examples that reading was extremely important in the life of the Old Testament Jewish people. God expected that His Word would be read and since they did not all have a copy of their own, it was read publicly to them and they were expected to stand and listen to it.

My first thought is, “How did they have the attention span to do this?” Most of us here in our culture would have a difficult time listening for that length of time with no musical or video going on in the background. Later on in this series I’m going to discuss the issue of attention and the distractions that prevent us from attending to anything for a length of time

It might be a worthwhile exercise for us as men who desire to be faithful to God to think through how attentive we are to God’s Word and what kind of place it has in our lives and minds. Are we losing the ability to read and concentrate on the Word for any appreciable length of time?

Scripture Memory Resource – Fighter Verses

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Scripture memorization is an important key to maturing in the faith. It is also an essential ingredient for meditation on the Scriptures since it allows us to have God’s Word readily available in our minds for mulling over while we are driving or doing other things where we can’t have an open Bible in front of us.

One of the best resources for Scripture memorization in this technological age is the Fighter Verses Program developed in conjunction with Desiring God Ministries. They provide apps for both iPhone and Android platforms.

There is a basic 5 year program with one verse a week for five years. Each week, you are notified through your app that a new verse is ready for the coming week. Here is their description of this program:

The Fighter Verses focus on 1) the character and worth of our great God, 2) battling against our fleshly desires, and 3) the hope of the Gospel. This five-year memory program is a revision of the original program (now called the Legacy Set), and includes many verses from the original set as well as many new verses.

Their extended program features longer passages still in a 5 year format. Here is their description:

The Extended Memory Set is designed for those who wish to memorize longer passages of Scripture. Still structured as a five-year program, this set will walk you through memorizing Philippians, James, Romans 5-8, the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), and one year of larger passages from various books of the Bible that are considered key to the life of faith.

If you would like to get started in this program, here is the link: http://fighterverses.com

Here is a link to my website where I provide some other memory programs that are available. http://www.faithful-men.org/p/resources-memorization.html

 

 

Hymn of the Week – Spirit of God, Descend Upon my Heart

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Spirit of God, Descend Upon my Heart by George Croly


1.	Spirit of God, descend upon my heart;
	wean it from earth; through all its pulses move;
	stoop to my weakness, mighty as thou art,
	and make me love thee as I ought to love.

2.	I ask no dream, no prophet ecstasies,
	no sudden rending of the veil of clay,
	no angel visitant, no opening skies;
	but take the dimness of my soul away.

3.	Has thou not bid me love thee, God and King?
	All, all thine own, soul, heart and strength and mind.
	I see thy cross; there teach my heart to cling.
	O let me seek thee, and O let me find.

4.	Teach me to feel that thou art always nigh;
	teach me the struggles of the soul to bear.
	To check the rising doubt, the rebel sigh,
	teach me the patience of unanswered prayer.

5.	Teach me to love thee as thine angels love,
	one holy passion filling all my frame;
	the kindling of the heaven-descended Dove,
	my heart an altar, and thy love the flame.

					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
Reading and the Christian – Part 2

			
						

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In both the Old and New Testaments reading is commanded, encouraged and expected. In Deuteronomy 17 we find that the king of Israel is to write for himself a copy of the Word of God and then read it every day. The goal here is quite interesting. Verses 19 and following tell us that the purpose is so that he may learn to fear the Lord his God and be careful to observe all the words of the law and the statutes. The purpose furthermore is so “that his heart may not be lifted above his brethren, that he may not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left.”


So here we see the intended power of the Word in the life of the king if he would read it every day of his life. How much more so for us as Christians to be faithful readers of the Word of God.


In Deuteronomy 31:11ff we find that all Israel is to come to appear before the Lord. At that meeting the leaders “shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. Gather the people together, men and women and little ones, and the stranger who is within your gates, that they may hear and that they may learn to fear the Lord your God and carefully observe all the words of this law, and that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God as long as you live in the land.”


In the next part of this series we’ll look at a particular instance of this happening and we’ll focus on what took place and then think about whether people of our culture would be comfortable in that setting for that length of time.


What I find intriguing in the passages we looked at today is that the Scripture has a profound effect on people as they read it or hear it read. It tends to keep us faithful to the Lord, fearing Him and learning to observe all of the things He commands of us His children.

					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
Reading and the Christian

			
						

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There are three things that I would like to accomplish in this series of articles. 1) Show from Scripture the importance of the word and reading, 2) Explain a couple of ways reading is being eroded in our culture and the danger that this poses to people’s souls, and 3) Give some suggestions as to how you can wield your influence on others to stem the tide of this erosion in your families and churches.


God has chosen to act through words. For example, God used words to create. He said, “Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3). Jesus calmed the sea with the words, “Peace, Be still” (Mark 4:39).


It’s interesting that in Revelation 19:15 the conquering Christ is pictured as a having a sword in his mouth rather than in His hand as one might have predicted. I take this to mean that Christ will conquer with the word of His mouth rather than the might of his arm.


God uses His word to call things that are not as though they were (Romans 4:17). He did this when he called creation into existence and when he brings the light of salvation into the dead soul.


Finally, God the son is called the Word in John 1:1. He is God’s ultimate communication to us. In fact, the writer of the Hebrews in chapter 1 tells us that God has spoken in times past in various ways through the prophets, but in these last days He has spoken to us in Son. His Son is the language God used to bring His saving message to the world.


So clearly, God has chosen to use words to act in this world. Next time we’ll examine the concept of the written word.