So I have realized something about myself lately that makes me cringe: in my interaction with the Word of God, I have developed a tendency to be
content as a spectator. In the world of sports there are two kinds of people--those who enjoy watching the game, and the athletes. The same is true in the worlds of music, art, relationships, you name it. As a culture we have become too content being spoon fed the Scriptures, and not ever participating ourselves. In sports, the athlete can still be successful without the spectators, but absent the athlete and there is nothing to watch. What we need is to commit to become Scriptural Athletes who compete, train, and practice on a regular basis.
You know you are in danger of becoming a Scripture Spectator when:
- you read something and almost right away the only thing you can recall are the "main details" not individual words or phrases
- you have not memorized any new pieces of Scripture since you were in college, or sunday school.
- when you hear someone else read or quote Scripture you subconsciously try to finish it as if to say to yourself, "I already know this one."
- when you read the stories in Scripture you only see words on a page and not faces and people and real life stories.
Now I realize that when we live our entire lives as Christians and have been reading the same stories and verses for many years, we can develop callouses to them, and the subtle nuances of Truth can wash right over us without ever being absorbed. I firmly believe that if that is the case,
we need a new set of behaviors to achieve
new results.
Here are a few that I am committed to:
- read a new translation
- memorize significant portions of Scripture
- read the Scriptures out loud
- visualize the stories, put yourself in them.
Make this whole process alive, not some dead old ritual. This is our field, our instrument, our canvas. Make it meaningful.
Just read this earlier, and it made me think of a few things: