Tuesday, May 27, 2008

delve deeper


All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

2 Timothy 3:16-17

Do you study scripture? It saddens me when I think of the countless "Christians" out there who try to walk according to scripture without having ever read through or studied it. Our ultimate goal is to bring glory to God, but how can we know what will glorify Him if we do not read His Word, His instruction to us?

I have heard it said that there is no such thing as a lukewarm Christian, that a Christian must be "hot" and not "cold". Paul Washer talks about radical Christians, and how we must be radical or nothing at all. If you ever think you are radical, I encourage you to listen to his story about a little boy who could not deny Jesus, and was killed for it- now that, my friends, is a radical Christian.

Jesus said that we must "hate" our families and give up our possessions in order to follow Him. Granted, we are not literally supposed to hate people, but we are supposed to be willing to give everything up in order to glorify God.

If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple... So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his possessions.
Luke 14:26-27, 33

I would venture to guess that not many of us in America are sacrificing a lot by reading scripture, yet so few take the time to try and understand what God is teaching us through His Word. God speaks to us through His Word. If we are Christians, we should be out there trying to learn all we can from what He has said in the Bible. We should desire to know scripture, and desire to understand it, and desire for others to know it and be saved.

As we progress in our Christian walk, we must be growing in holiness, and studying scripture more in depth. Paul speaks about the age of our Christianity by referring to baby Christians as needing milk- basic scriptural understanding, and more mature Christians as needing solid food- in depth scriptural understanding. Where are you at as a Christian? Are you still drinking the milk of scripture, picking and choosing verses here and there, wondering why you don't understand what others are speaking about? Or are you looking hard at scripture to glean all you can from God, finding ways to equip yourself to carry out the Great Commission and disciple others?

For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.
Hebrews 5:13-14

2 comments:

Dianna Wood said...

Your blog post came up through one of my "pre-set" google blog searches on "Paul Washer" and I just wanted to tell you what a blessing it is to read your post--and you're a woman! Praise the Lord. I will visit often.

Blessings to You,
A Christian Sister

Courtney said...

I'm glad the Lord chose to lead you here. It's an honor to have another sister in Christ around! I hope you do return, and that God will give me words that speak to you :)

God bless,
Courtney