THE CHRISTIAN DIET- The Bible

 God's Word is, of course, the mainstay of our  Christian growth, but it is easy for us to get into trouble if the word of God is not used properly.  There are several ways that most Christians use the word of God in an improper way; a few of them are things like as a tool to prove a point of doctrine is correct.  The only correct doctrine is that of Jesus Christ which has already been established as the foundation of our faith.  Whenever we get into that sort of behavior we are the most likely to get into another improper way of use of the Bible,  Taking the word of God's out of context.  I would like to deal with these two issues first in our feeding Spiritually from the word because of this type of behavior being the main problem facing good solid Christian maturity in today's churches. Today we feed our spirits on information about God and God's word rather than allowing His Spirit to teach us directly from the teachings of Christ.  This seems to be one of the reasons that we get into trouble.  It is very easy to adapt an idea from someone who supports a view that we have been programed to believe rather than labor over the true meaning of the scripture we encounter by taking the time to reason it out with others of like precious faith.  One of the things that we must deal with is the fact that God's meaning and word has not changed since it was brought to us by Christ, but in many ways we have changed.  

 I have found that if we truly are seeking after God some of the main principals we come accross in our salvation will change for us as we learn more about His power and purpose in our life.  It is we who are learning how to adopt His principals in life instead of trying to weave the word into a life style that we have chosen out of our own will.  The fact remains that we have taken an idea or a style of thinking and tried to force God to live within that concept. We have tried to control the up and down horizonal and vertical of our lives instead of  giving ourselves over to God's Spirit to use as His tool.  It becomes that minset that has to change for us to begin to receive power from God again as we did in the early church.

  The ways that we go about reading the word has to change as well from reading it like any other book to looking at it as a letter that is written to us personally from God.  Every paragraph can have a meaning to us personally if we will meditate upon what we are being told.  When we change our attitude we will start to learn from His Spirit.  We have taken the word of God wrong in many ways to think that everything that He is saying to us is something that we should consider for doctrine or creed when it has many different purposes.  The word is first of all written to the Christian and not to the world.  When we allow the world to relate it's own understanding in God's word we soon run into trouble, and I believe that has happened much of the time with the new age concepts of God that floats around today.  Anything that takes our focus away from Jesus Christ and from His message of Salvation from God becomes a distraction.  It may be something that is very good in this world, it may be very helpful and humanitarian, but if it does not lead someone to Christ it is useless.

  The word of God is centered around changing our heart and mind to believe that God has sent Jesus as His Son to give us a way to have access to the Father as Adam and Eve once did through the forgiveness of that original sin.  This opens the door for us to develop a relationship with God as our Father once more.  It is important that we realize that it is we who must seek after God, and not the other way around.  In the Old covenant it almost seemed as though God was continually seeking men, but after the sacrifice of His Son God now expects us to seek after Him, and His word to us is a vital part of that covenant.  It becomes a contract that we make with God to love and obey as He has loved and been faithful to us.

  Each part of God's word is written with a purpose and a directive to show us our sin, convince us us of our need for salvation through Christ, and lead us into repentence for our part in disobedience from the beginning.  Do we love God or do we try to use God?  All of this is answered for us in the lines and words of the Bible.  There is a lot more there than we may have imagined when we look at it closely.  May you richly bless God through your life in Him.


THE UNWORTHY SERVANT