Tuesday, April 29, 2008

What Do I Do With The Bible?



Is it possible that we run into biblical naivety and illiteracy?

Here's a question for you:
Why is it that often (at least in my experience) the people with the best Bible knowledge are so relationally challenged?

Clue: When writing about love, the Apostle Paul mentioned how knowledge “puffs up.”

1 Corinthians 8:1b-3: "..We know that we all possess knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know. But the man who loves God is known by God." (niv)

Colossians 2:18: "Some people enjoy acting like they are humble and love to worship angels. Those people always talk about the visions they have seen. Don't let those people say, "You don't do these things, so you are wrong." Those people are full of foolish pride because they think only the thoughts of people, {not the thoughts of God}." (erv)

(niv): "..his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions."

Here are some positive and negative aspects toward the Word of God:

Bible gluttony (knowledge becomes more important to you than love (puffed up)
Excessive Bible Ingestion
Reading the Bible as "required checklist" (without recognizing His power through the lives of the people during the Old and New Testament)
We became the Pharisees… all about “the word,” without becoming like The Word (Christ.)
Interacting with the truth
Reading the Bible like clockwork every day for an hour or more is pointless if it's not done out of a desire for relationship with God.
Reading the Bible (as if taking a vitamin supplement or aspirin) when we are feeling a little low and need a "inspire me now". It's not about the reading or the knowing. It's about the Living! That's what we need to work on.

I am not promoting biblical ignorance and I am not saying that if people find reading the Bible devotionally is meaningful that they should stop. I am just relating my experience.

It seems like I have a lot of knowledge of the Bible that needs to work itself out. (I just realized that sounds like some kind of strange constipation. "chuckle")

I also realized I need to be in community to discuss what some of these truths mean to our lives. Like we're to be the Bible people read through our influence, our love, our forgiveness/being forgiven. I am for pondering how to live what we read in the Bible rather conquer it on some superficial technical level.

"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." James 1:22 (niv)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mark,

This blog is good! Great thoughts! It helps me keep things in "heart perspective" rather than "mind perspective". Thanks!

Greg

Anonymous said...

Hi.

You're right! It's not about the head, Mark. It's about the heart. Well, most importantly, it's all about God! Be the Word!