As Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness, he countered Satan's first temptation with one of the most important teachings a Christian will ever encounter- "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.'" (Mat 4:4 and Luke 4:4, quoting Deut 8:3)
This teaching de-emphasizes the importance of eating to emphasize the importance of devotion to God. But I think we can also learn a practical lesson about devotion to God from eating.
When you eat, I think it is pretty reasonable to say that you should always do the following things:
1. Pick up the fork/spoon and put the food in your mouth (because leaving it in your plate won't help).
2. Chew and swallow (don't spit it out).
3. Repeat.
4. Make sure that your plate is full of food that is not just good to you, but good for you.
5. Enjoy!
Similarly, I think it is safe to say that we should do the following with God's word:
1. Read it (leaving it on a table all day will not be useful).
2. Understand and obey (don't just quickly gloss over everything or even worse, reject it by disobeying).
3. Repeat (after all, once isn't enough for eating, right?).
4. Don't pick and choose ("every word" means "every word," not just the words we like).
5. Appreciate God's word!
I think one of the most difficult things for a child to learn is to enjoy food- not the sweet stuff like desserts, but the stuff that you really need. There's something about certain foods that just disagrees with you (I always hated peas as a kid). But at some point, you've got to grow up and learn to enjoy what is good for you. That applies to God's word just as strongly. We will sometimes have to develop an appreciation for certain portions of God's word that we might not appreciate at first. It might be that some things just don't seem worth taking in very often, if at all. The price is giving up on your basic, child-like (we all start as spiritual babies) instincts. The prize is life. We live on God's every word.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
What Does the Lord Require?
6 “With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? 7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”8 He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? -Micah 6:6-8
I came across these verses today and it was a good reminder of some of the great aspects of Christianity. Micah begins by asking what he should give the Lord in order to please him. He begins to list things that get increasingly ridiculous like "ten thousands of rivers of oil" and even his own body. However, he makes it clear that this is not what the Lord wants. God does not require us to make any tremendous physical sacrifices in order to please him because he already did that himself. Christ has already died in order to make us right in the eyes of God and he is the only one who could have done that.
So what do we have to do? Micah answers this in verse 8. He says to "do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God." These are the things that God wants from us and I want to focus on the third one. Ii is interesting that he says that we need to "walk humbly with our God." I have found from experience that the best way to remain humble in my walk with God is to focus on God and compare myself to him instead of other people. Christ has given us the perfect standard by which to live. The first line of verse 8 says, "He has told you, O man, what is good. " God has told us what goodness is and Christ then came and lived it out. If we are always looking to Christ to measure how good we are doing we will always remain humble.
However, it is when we start comparing oursleves to other people that we start losing that humility. There are millions even billions of people in this world who can look at what Hitler did and then feel pretty proud about where they are at in their life. It is natural for us to compare ourselves to others to feel better about where we are at. But God knew this and that is why he was the one who lived the perfect life and made the sacrifice that none of us could. He wants us to look to him to see how good we are doing because when we start that we will begin practicing humility. Without that example none of us would realize where we are at and just how much we need God.
I came across these verses today and it was a good reminder of some of the great aspects of Christianity. Micah begins by asking what he should give the Lord in order to please him. He begins to list things that get increasingly ridiculous like "ten thousands of rivers of oil" and even his own body. However, he makes it clear that this is not what the Lord wants. God does not require us to make any tremendous physical sacrifices in order to please him because he already did that himself. Christ has already died in order to make us right in the eyes of God and he is the only one who could have done that.
So what do we have to do? Micah answers this in verse 8. He says to "do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God." These are the things that God wants from us and I want to focus on the third one. Ii is interesting that he says that we need to "walk humbly with our God." I have found from experience that the best way to remain humble in my walk with God is to focus on God and compare myself to him instead of other people. Christ has given us the perfect standard by which to live. The first line of verse 8 says, "He has told you, O man, what is good. " God has told us what goodness is and Christ then came and lived it out. If we are always looking to Christ to measure how good we are doing we will always remain humble.
However, it is when we start comparing oursleves to other people that we start losing that humility. There are millions even billions of people in this world who can look at what Hitler did and then feel pretty proud about where they are at in their life. It is natural for us to compare ourselves to others to feel better about where we are at. But God knew this and that is why he was the one who lived the perfect life and made the sacrifice that none of us could. He wants us to look to him to see how good we are doing because when we start that we will begin practicing humility. Without that example none of us would realize where we are at and just how much we need God.
Friday, October 1, 2010
How to Describe a Relationship with God
I have been very busy this week. My days consisted of me leaving for work in the morning, and after work leaving for play rehearsal, and then going home. On top of that, I had a cold all week. Why am I saying this? My wife has not had a chance to spend time with me. I got to thinking how my wife probably feels, and how that feeling is probably how God feels about me a lot of the time.
I would come home in the evenings to a loving woman who had cooked and cleaned and taken care of the dog even after having a stressful day at work. She would urge me to relax because I wasn't feeling well; no work was expected of me. I didn't even have to pack my lunch.
Naturally, a feeling of guilty appreciation is what I felt when I realized what she was going through, and how much she loved me. So, I told her, "when I feel better, and this play is over" (in a couple of days), "I'll give you plenty of attention and spend a lot of time with you."
How many times have I told God I was busy? For me, if I do not have a scheduled time of prayer and reading the Word, I don't do it. Sometimes a week or two will pass where I do not spend any sincere time with God. I know that God is probably thinking, just like my wife, "I love him, and I will always take care of him... but I long to be with him."
So here's my point: spend time with God. A relationship with God doesn't always involve asking Him for something. Even though God will always love you, if you serve God with all your heart you will find so much more value in the relationship- what it is meant to be.
I would come home in the evenings to a loving woman who had cooked and cleaned and taken care of the dog even after having a stressful day at work. She would urge me to relax because I wasn't feeling well; no work was expected of me. I didn't even have to pack my lunch.
Naturally, a feeling of guilty appreciation is what I felt when I realized what she was going through, and how much she loved me. So, I told her, "when I feel better, and this play is over" (in a couple of days), "I'll give you plenty of attention and spend a lot of time with you."
How many times have I told God I was busy? For me, if I do not have a scheduled time of prayer and reading the Word, I don't do it. Sometimes a week or two will pass where I do not spend any sincere time with God. I know that God is probably thinking, just like my wife, "I love him, and I will always take care of him... but I long to be with him."
So here's my point: spend time with God. A relationship with God doesn't always involve asking Him for something. Even though God will always love you, if you serve God with all your heart you will find so much more value in the relationship- what it is meant to be.
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