Slow Down...

In my pride I like to believe that I’ve been around the block a time or two. When sitting in church and I hear the topic of the sermon I can usually guess where in the scriptures they are headed.  In my pride, I even believe that I could give better sermons than most pastors, speakers or YL leaders.

--This reeks of arrogance and I hate it.  I hate seeing it in type but I want to see the Lord glorified in my putting to death of my sin.

If one thing has been ringing truer and truer in my life it is that the closer I grow to Jesus the more I realize how completely sinful I am.  The phrase ‘the road to hell is paved with good intentions’ has rung true in many aspects of my life recently.  But there has been one simple message that I have been trying to implement in my life and I think is worth sharing.

Don’t skim through Scripture. 

If you recognize a verse, don’t SKIM IT! 

If you hear a message at a church on a familiar passage of scripture DON’T ZONE OUT!

We are called to be masters of God's word, but not Skimmers of God's word.

My old Young Life leader Tim Hartin is someone who has taken this command seriously.  As far as guys who know God's word, he is serious business.  The first verse I ever memorized was with him. 

Psalm 119:9-11 that says

     "How can a young man keep his way pure?

     By living according to your word.

     I seek you with all of my heart

     Do not let me stray from your commands

     I have hidden your word in my heart

     So that I might not sin against you."

Let's hide God's word in our hearts so that we MIGHT NOT SIN AGAINST HIM, not so that we might brag about how well we know scripture.

I’ll be the first to admit that when I’m reading a book (recently Crazy Love) and the author quotes a verse that I know I skim right over it believing that I completely understand what it means.

The word of God is living and active! I so often forget this and think that the Bible verses only mean on thing and they will always mean that one thing…but this is not true.

So the next time we stumble across a verse I hope that we don’t read: "No eye has seen, no ear has….yaddah yaddah yaddah….for those who love him" 1 Corinthians 2:9

I want to slow down and hear God speaking in every word of His scripture. Let's know God in our hearts, not just our heads.