Series: Gospel Shaped Church 11/1/20
Week 9 1 Timothy 4:6-15
I do like me some fast food. Do you? Maybe you’re fortunate to have no taste for it.
But I love Whoppers with cheese (alone in my fam for BK love) and Big Macs… ba da, bu bu baa… Wendy’s single with cheese, MTLO (like a Cali) or Arby’s Beef n Cheddar on those onion buns, and I do like a simple Chick-Fil-A #1 sandwich – what’s wrong with this picture? No cheese at CFA… so they’re NOT perfect after all! Oh well.
And fries! They each have their own unique take on making fries… And for those fluent in hotdog, in our area and the Lehigh Valley we have the The Grill Shop and Yocco’s for chili dogs. (I’m about to take a lunch break now…)
But the truth is that if I made a daily habit of eating these kinds of meals for any extended period of time, well, I’d probably already be dead from the clogging of arteries. But they’re so appealing because they’re fast, easy to access, fairly inexpensive and do taste magnificent. Are they high in producing energy to fuel my body and do they contain proteins and other valuable aspects food is meant to provide that are necessary to remain strong and healthy and fight off sickness etc.? No.
So they must remain a convenient treat for every now and then, not a steady diet. I can’t mark down Whopper Wednesday in my calendar as a reminder even though I’d like to.
But I should mark down into my calendar, carve out planned time each and everyday, time to ingest the Word of God.
If our spiritual lives are worthy of planned effort, and they are, then I need to set aside time to feed and nourish my spirit and soul. I am the one who needs to make it happen. I need to choose a plan, pick up my bible and make it happen. I cannot rely on Door Dash to bring me my spiritual food. One of the best parts is that it will continue to be easier to happen as I stick to my scheduled time, by making it a new habit.
Godliness is just like any other part of life… to grow in it takes planned training. It won’t happen by accident.
And eating the right kind of food is very important as well as how you prepare it. How you handle the word of God is a key for setting you up for a good return on your time investment or little.
Start here with perspective: are you an originalist? In other words do you seek to understand its original intent? What God’s intent not our inclination. Are you a Word Centralist? Do you seek to keep the Word of God at the center of your thought and decision making hub – your mind? And third do you seek God’s glory in how you read it? Just doing these three things will keep you on a good track toward solid interpretation.
One more thing is really important: don’t try and exercise alone. We need personal study but we also need to come together and share our thoughts and allow for iron to sharpen iron in order to make each other stronger. We should not train alone.
Peter didn’t write the first three verses of his second letter for nothing. We need to be vigilant. Choose a good diet or menu for reading the word of God and get into a habit of eating “right”. Don’t try and sustain yourself on fast-food meals form the Bible. You will waste away and start believing anything you hear. Stay strong and grow up in Christ.
