In Regards To Myself…
Confession: I generally have a hard time sitting down and spending time reading my bible. It seems that this is a reoccurring issue Christians have… they spend they’re whole lives KNOWING how beneficial studying God’s word is… they tell themselves constantly that they need to read frequently… but it never fails that they stay complacent, and never put any effort into getting into the habit of exploring the word of God.
I’ve struggled with this my whole Christian life… which has been the majority of my days here on earth… I know it is going to continue to be an ongoing struggle, but for the past couple of months my desire to dive into this book has been great. Even though I can’t say that I’ve read daily… or even every other day over the past couple of months, I can say that when I have taken the time to start off my day, or even end it with exploring the pages of this book breathed by God… it never fails that I receive something COMPLETELY applicable and TOTALLY relevant to life at that particular moment in time. And to top that off, I ALWAYS have more joy and peace, and a desire to share what God is doing in my life with others, after I read.
Today I opened my Bible with the thought “I’d like to read in 1st and 2nd Timothy.” As I was flipping through the pages, Galatians came up and I thought… “Eh, I’ll just read in Galatians.” I had no game-plan, no study guide, no motivation for reading Galatians… it just looked interesting. Only 10 verses in and BAM! Word from the big man upstairs. HIGHLIGHT… Chapter 2… 10 verses in again and BAM! Another challenging scripture. HIGHLIGHT… 10 verses further… WHAM! This is awesome! I decided to stop at the end of Chapter 2 and reflect on what I had read and been shown in those 2 chapters. Here’s what I got out of that first verse that stuck with me.
Galatians 1:10 – “Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.”
Paul is writing to a congregation of believers in Galatia, and in this section of chapter 1 he rebukes them for so easily turning from the Gospel of Jesus Christ to gospels that other people are sharing with them. From what I can tell… it sounds like these “other gospels” are ear ticklers. The Galatians like these other gospels because they make them feel good. But the true gospel isn’t meant to make you feel good. Its meant to stir you up. To put a fire in your bones and make you live life according to Christs word. It’s supposed to challenge us. Not pat us on the back… So Paul basically says, “What do I have to do to make you understand? Do I need to pat you on the back? Do I need to please you? Make you happy? Is that what I am doing now?” But like he writes in verse 10, he says, “No way! No! I wouldn’t be a servant of Christ… I wouldn’t be a follower of him… if I was just trying to make you happy.”
That verse was a challenge for me. I’m the type of person who prides myself on doing my very, very best. Its hard to admit… but I think I do it because I’m looking for approval. I want affirmation and desire reassurance. And who doesn’t? Who doesn’t love when people say “Great job!” or “Well done!”… But what is the approval of men? What benefit does it provide? A temporary ego boost? God calls us to excellence… to do our very best always… but not for men, for Him. This scripture made me think, “Am I giving my very best in life to God? Or to men? With my job… am I doing my very best when I lead worship so that it is holy and pleasing to God? Or so that I get a “Good job today! ” or a, “Worship was great!” or even a, “It sounded good today!” “If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.”… What a challenge.
I could share about the other two verses I received something from this morning… but I think I’ve written so much that half of you probably stopped reading a while back. Haha. I suppose I’ll leave you with this,
“For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” – Hebrews 4:12
“All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” – 2 Timothy 3:16-17
I pray that you found some encouragement from what I’ve shared. Our Bibles are sooo taken for granted. We live in the greatest country in the world. A country where we are free to worship God as we please. We have the ability to read our bible in public, out in the open, on television, in front of audiences of people… and yet we choose to use this book as a paper weight… as a dust collector… When believers in other parts of the world, fear for life itself just for carrying a page from that same book.
Challenge: Dust off your Bible… open it up… and read it. Don’t just read for 2 minutes, 5 minutes, even 10 minutes. Spend some good quality time with this book. Let God open your eyes as they dance across the pages. Let the stories of battles and glory, romance and passion, salvation and redemption, death and life, joy and pain, love, love, love, love, love, totally unfailing, relentlessness, uncontainable love… come to life for you. The more time you spend with it, the more real it will become to you; the more applicable and life altering it will be. Let it challenge you. Let it change you.
-Casey
What do you think?