Scripture

Spiritual growth requires a deep engagement with God through Scripture, not reading the Bible.

We previously discussed the ideal Christian life you aspire to live. I assume that all believers strive to live godly lives, but many of us feel frustrated by our tendency to sin. As the hymn says, "Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love." How many times do we feel frustrated by our lack of follow-through when it comes to pleasing Christ?

So, way back in July I told you two things that won't work. Focusing on outward change doesn't work. Self-effort doesn't work – it's not a matter of simple will-power. And I began to unravel what I believe the secret is to a life that is pleasing to God. I believe that the way to spirituality is through spiritual disciplines that help us become more like Christ. Just like you need months of training to run a marathon, you must engage in spiritual training to live a life pleasing to God.

Really, what we do in private determines the success of our walk with God day to day. I've mentioned five spiritual disciplines: celebration, slowing, servanthood, confession, and secrecy. And I have three more to cover: prayer, Scripture, and in a couple of weeks, the subject of fasting.

So I want to ask you, how is it going? Have you found that your walk with the Lord has been improved by the practice of these private disciplines? A few weeks ago, my schedule was controlling me, rather than me controlling my schedule. I was feeling frustrated in my personal devotions, fatigued, and a little harried. And I took a day apart.

I booked a room at an Anglican convent in Willowdale for a day to pray and reflect. I wanted to spend time in prayer and reflect on my life. But let me tell you that the time away, although too short, renewed me in a way that nothing else could have. In fact, I'm going back on a regular basis. I'm learning that nothing can replace the spiritual disciplines that God's people have practiced over the ages. These practices help us draw closer to God, rather than being goals in themselves.

Tonight I'd like to talk about the area of personal devotions. You probably expected me to cover this when I started the series on spiritual disciplines, even though they are just two of many practices.

Three Approaches to Scripture

I want to talk first about meditation on Scripture. What I want to talk about is not the two most common methods of looking at Scripture in personal devotions.

Study

The first common method is study. It's important. Sometimes we need to get out our Bible helps and dig down and do an in-depth study of the Word of God. That's absolutely crucial. Every Christian should invest in quality Bible study tools for a lifetime, as studying the Word of God is essential. But that's not what I want to look at today.

Survey

I also don't want to look at the next common method of looking at Scripture, which you could call survey. I think it's important to do this as well. I have several one-year Bibles, which help me understand the Bible as a whole instead of just reading isolated verses. But the problem with both of these common methods of Bible study is that their goal is knowledge. And as important as knowledge is, it isn't enough.

You see, the goal of the Bible is not to give us more information but to transform us. Some of the people with the greatest knowledge of the Bible haven't had their lives transformed by God's Word. How do I know this? Jesus said so in John 5:39-40: "You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life."

The religious leaders thought that their knowledge of the Scriptures was proof of their spiritual greatness. But they never allowed the Bible's teachings to transform their minds and hearts. And they never met Jesus in the Scriptures. Reading the Bible to seek transformation is different from reading it just for information or to support an argument. It is possible to read Scripture without being "washed by the Word." As John Ortberg says, "The goal is not for us to get through the Scriptures. The goal is to get the Scriptures through us."

Now, don't get me wrong. Knowledge of the Bible is indispensable and it is good, but it is not enough. We need to come to the Bible in our personal lives, not to gain more knowledge, but to transform our lives.

There's another way we can approach the Bible.

Meditation

We should focus on a small passage of Scripture and meditate on it until it transforms our lives.

Somebody has written:

If you read quickly, it will benefit you little. You will be like a bee that merely skims the surface of a flower. Instead, in this new way of reading with prayer, you must become as the bee who penetrates in the depths of the flower. You plunge deeply within to remove its deepest nectar.

The Bible talks over and over again of this practice. The words for "meditate" in the Scriptures are used over 58 times in the Old Testament alone:

• "He went out to the field one evening to meditate." (Genesis 24:63)
• "On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night." (Psalms 63:6)
• "My eyes stay open through the watches of the night, that I may meditate on your promises." (Psalms 119:148)
• "But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night." (Psalms 1:2)

It comes from the belief that the God of the universe, the Creator of all things, desires our fellowship. And one of the ways he desires to meet us is through his Word.

Let me tie in the idea of prayer with this. You probably know Revelation 3:20 off by heart: "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me." Often, we use this verse for evangelism, but it was actually written for believers, not unbelievers.

Richard Foster says of this verse, "We who have turned our lives over to Christ need to know how very much he longs to eat with us, to commune with us. He desires a perpetual Eucharistic feast in the inner sanctuary of the heart." And it comes as we meditate on Scripture and pray. And this is what prayer is. Prayer is simply opening that door to intimacy and communion with God.

As the authors of the study Experiencing God remind us, God is pursuing a love relationship with you. He longs to love you, to commune with you in a way that is real and personal. Like Adam and Eve, God wants to walk with you, nurturing your relationship and discussing what's important.

You can see how different this is from the way we normally think of personal devotions. Instead of quickly reading a Bible passage and checking it off a list, consider prayer not as an obligation, but as quality time with a loving God who desires a personal relationship with you. He wants to walk with you and share a continuous spiritual feast.

Some Practical Suggestions

I want to give you some suggestions from an excellent book by John Ortberg that will help to lead you to this place.

Ask God to meet you in your personal devotions.

Before you begin, ask God to speak to you. As you begin reading the Scripture and praying, anticipate that he will do so. Realize that Jesus is present with you as you begin to read his Word. Listen to hear God's voice – a Scripture might impact you, you may feel convicted about some sin, or be prompted to take some course of action. Ask the Spirit to illumine you as you read the Bible.

D.L. Moody said, "The Bible without the Holy Spirit is a sundial by moonlight." When we read the Scriptures, we need the Spirit to teach us. View your time as not a time with a book, but a time with the author of that book, who is still present to illumine his Word and to guide you.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer underlines the importance of this attitude as we come to the Bible:

Often we are so burdened and overwhelmed with other thoughts, images, and concerns that it may take a long time before God's Word has swept all else aside and come through...This is the very reason why we begin our meditation with the prayer that God may send his Holy Spirit to us through his Word and reveal his Word to us and enlighten us.

Read the Bible with a repentant spirit.

When you come to your time of personal devotions, surrender everything. Read with an open heart. "For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." (Hebrews 4:12)

The Word of God is not simply a collection of words from God, or a vehicle for communicating ideas. It is a living, life-changing, dynamic force that reveals who we are and who we aren't. It shows us the core of our spiritual life. It discerns what is good in us and what is not. And that is why we need to come to the Word in a spirit of openness and repentance.

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). The Bible is meant to change the way we live. We shouldn't study the Bible just to gain knowledge or win arguments; we should engage with it to experience personal transformation. So come to the Bible with a repentant spirit.

Meditate on a fairly brief passage or narrative.

Let me quote directly:

So immerse yourself in a short passage of Scripture—perhaps a few verses. Read it slowly. Read it the way you would read a letter at the height of a romance. Certain words may stand out to you; allow them to sink into your heart. Ask if perhaps God wants to speak to you through these words. The question that always lies behind such reading is, 'God, what do you want to say to me in this moment?'

If you're reading a story, read with all your imagination. Try to recapture the setting and what the experience must have been like. Instead of covering a lot of Scripture, let a short passage sink into your heart.

This is where I have had to change. Reading the Bible cover to cover is valuable, but it's not enough. We need to slow down and let a short passage of Scripture filter down into our lives. We need to saturate ourselves in a passage until every aspect of our life is touched by it. We need to change our idea of success from how many pages we have read to how much God has spoken to us. We need to make it our job to stick with a Scripture as long as it takes to learn what we need to learn at the Savior's feet.

Take one thought or verse with you throughout the day.

You can't meditate fast. Take time to meditate on God's Word during quiet moments, like when you're at a stoplight or other times during the day. It's like how a tree's roots absorb water from a river to nourish the whole tree and promote growth.

This is what we need to do. In Scripture, meditation is likened to a young lion growling over its prey, the soft coo of a dove, or a cow chewing its cud. Take one thought from Scripture, and repeat it all day, because what the mind repeats, it retains. Make it part of your life.

Memorize.

Memorizing Scripture isn't just for kids. It's one of the most powerful means of transforming our minds. "I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you." (Psalms 119:11) Memorize statements from Scripture that will help you where you need help most. Make Scripture part of your life until God's Word becomes part of your thought life.

This is what I mean by prayer and Scripture. To cultivate our relationship, my wife and I continue to date each other. We need to regularly set time aside to enjoy and reconnect with each other. This is what God desires with us.

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. (Revelation 3:20-21)