Not choosing the good at the expense of the best
May 09 in The Word
The Word of God gives us God’s agenda. Part of the problem in our culture is that we are too busy. If we really understood the importance of the Word of God, we would push all other things aside and make it the primary focus of our life. The advice that every older, wiser and godly man or woman of God always repeats, is ‘Read more of the Word’ ‘If only I had read the Word more’.
We don’t realize the power of the written and spoken Word. If we did, we would be marinating in it day and night. How long do we spend in the Word? How long do we spend watching TV? Listening to the radio? Reading magazines and newspapers, on the internet? even listening or reading Christian books and literature, but not reading God’s Word.
It’s all about not choosing the good at the expense of the best.
So, where is the battle ground? Ephesians 4:17 “Be renewed in the Spirit of your mind” Colossians 3 “Set you mind on things above” A man is what he thinks. He becomes the sum totals of his appetites.
Taking His Word and applying it to ‘me‘: ‘What is it that I spend my time thinking about?’ ‘What influences me most?’ Jesus said, The eye is the window of the soul. ‘What goes in through my eye? What takes up all my attention, what am I watching, reading, looking at?’
The Word then goes on to say, “the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart”. ‘What am I feeding my heart on?’ It will be reflected by my fruit: Matthew 12:33-34 “The tree is known by its fruit…” ‘What does my mouth say about the state of my heart?’
Psalm 1 “Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.”
We need a radical change of thinking which in turn will affect our doing, putting His Word in practice, making it real, living it out and seeing it come alive in our lives and the lives of those around us. Am I living out a life of faith? Do I demonstrate the God I speak about and profess to know?
As we read His Word we need to be asking Him to show us ‘where is my thinking wrong?’ He will answer, if we are humble enough to listen. A heart that will listen to correction, that gentle prod. We need to rid ourselves of every wrong pattern of thinking 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ”
If we are not reading the Word we won’t recognize deception or wrong patterns of thinking, we will be like a stagnant pond with no running water, no life! A stagnant pond just lays inert, picking up the filth, every day a little bit more, not flowing and receiving of every rubbish that is thrown into it. We need to be like a flowing river, filling up and pouring forth from what we have received … a constant supply of new life. Receiving His Word as living waters that cleanse, heal and purify. Getting rid of the rubbish (emptying) being filled by Him and then pouring forth of His life, affecting our surroundings with His love, His wisdom, His Peace, His Joy, His patience, His self-control, His goodness and His kindness … His Spirit at work. It’s all about giving Him access.