Do not index
Do not index
“…we are fulfilling what is written in the scriptures so that studying the scriptures becomes a proactive practice more than sitting and reading them while taking notes on what we have read from them.”
While you are learning your voice and bettering your writing skills as you’re walking and being a scribe for Christ, I want to remind you of something that somebody told me on my walk as a scribe. Don’t feel guilty if you find yourself spending less time studying the Scriptures as you once did when you were first saved. I go over a little about why that is the case in this post here; but in regards to what I just said let me use myself as an example.
When I was first saved, I wanted to know everything there is to know about God and I had very little discernment back then as compared to how I am now. So basically, if the word Jesus or the word God was present in a video, blog post or podcast I was listening to it. And although I’m still eager to learn more while eating my daily bread from Jesus; the amount of time I spend studying the scriptures is a lot less than how it was when I was a baby in Christ.
There would be periods where I was condemning myself and not realizing that I was beating myself up for missing many mornings and days without opening my Bible or studying the scriptures. It would be worse when I would have these racing thoughts going on in my mind about not reading the scriptures to then later end up hearing a sermon talk about how easy it was that we can pick up our phones first thing in the morning, but how in the same breath we don’t pick up the Bible first thing in the morning. Sermons like that would go on to say that being this way was a sign that you don’t love God or something along those lines. And although I would agree with the sentiment of those types of sermons to an extent, I still did not agree with the final judgment of saying that a person that didn’t read the scriptures: “Didn’t love God.”
I have gotten mature enough in my walk with Christ to know that’s not completely true for every situation or scenario. Although I do study and enjoy studying scriptures, I’ve learned that Jesus has everyone in the Body of Christ doing different things at different times while having different depths of focus on different areas in our walk that still glorifies Him outside of studying the scriptures (wow I said different a lot).
And that by focusing on what He has for us to do in a specific season would require more focus on that area and in doing so that would not mean that we would automatically be neglecting studying the scriptures but INSTEAD that we would be learning how the scriptures are playing out in our lives with what we would be called or tasked to do for a season. This is seen when we would be ministering to others (as people in the scriptures did who also did not have the full canon of the Bible at the time). And while doing so we are fulfilling what is written in the scriptures so that studying the scriptures becomes a proactive practice over just sitting, reading, and taking notes on what we would have read from the scriptures. So studying the scriptures doesn’t take a backseat but is only a piece of the practice of practicing righteousness while we are on our walk with Christ.
For example Jesus has shown me, in my walk with Him, that one of the reasons for why I had not been reading the scriptures as much as I was when I was first saved was not because of a lack of tenacity and love for the word of God, but it was because he was still teaching me about who he is and his character outside of the Scriptures — like for example learning about forgiveness and grace that He gives to us while raising my todddler. Jesus had also shown me that He was teaching me about things to stay away from and to avoid that was/is Worldly — because at the time I was watching, listening to, and playing games that did not glorify Him but I did not realize it at the time. And all of this was going on while at the same time, he was molding my voice through my writing and me recording podcast episodes. So this, plus much more, was a lot going on that He wanted to show me and have me practice besides sitting and reading the scriptures alone — even though I was still reading them but was reading them a lot less in that season of my walk with Him.
Jesus had to remind me that studying the Word of God is not just done by studying the written text that is contained in the Bible as Jesus says, “The scriptures talk and Me.” But Jesus had to remind me that studying the Word of God is literally studying Jesus, who is the Word of God and that He is also studied through Spoken word (Me walking around the house, talking to myself and realizing I should start recording podcast when I’m meditating on Him), through written word (studying the scriptures), and through helping, loving, and serving others (through proactively living out the Word of God and how He instructs and guides us to be in His love).
Sidenote: this all makes me wonder now if this was the reason for why the Scribes, Pharisees, and Saduccees in the scriptures that did not know or believe in Jesus could not understand or agree with Jesus and what He was doing. They knew the law and the scriptures but they did not have the love of God in them because they were not practicing Him and what He what He said IN the scriptures; which was the result of not knowing Him intimately and personally but just knowing about Him which is not good enough since knowing about God is what the demons have knowledge of while not obeying God.
We see this trend in the scriptures of disobedience to God where the rich young ruler claimed to have “kept” the law since his youth but could not follow (obey) Jesus and let go of his possessions. The rich young ruler had knowledge of the law but didn’t even recognize that God was standing right in front of him and commanding the ruler to follow Him.
We also see this when Jesus questioned the unbelieving Jews if it was lawful to heal a man on the sabbath and when the Jews didn’t respond Jesus had shown disappointment because they were showing that they lacked understanding of mercy which comes when you don’t understand who God is and His character that would be written in the law that they claimed to “know” and claimed to follow.
Jesus does not want us to fall into the same trap that the unbelieving Jews did that as Jesus said to them, “Studied the scriptures seeking to find life from them but the scriptures talk about Me.” Jesus doesn’t want us to not know or not understand Him while we walk with Him which would also lead to us not practicing what He says we should do and how we should be which is loving and merciful. God is glorified in us by us practicing what He says we should do and not just having a head load of knowledge about what He says we are to do, but then not do it…so don’t overthink it if you have not kept up to par with a certain scripture studying schedule.
It may be that way because of how God has your walk with Him set up and that may not look the same as someone who is gifted and called to be a layman, teacher, or pastor in the Body of Christ but that doesn’t make you any less of significance in the Body of Christ. It can just mean that Jesus has different plans for you to where you will study the scriptures at the pace that God sets before you, but you may be used in a way to be more relatable to others who don’t know the Bible at all and just need to see the love of God practiced in you to them which is what Jesus says, “They will know you are my disciples in that you love one another.” And while you would be doing all what you would be called to do Jesus would show you when to give them the gospel that:
Jesus Christ died on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins and that He was buried in the tomb for 3 days, but after the third day, Jesus is now at the Right Hand of the Father in Heaven.
What is more important is people hearing and believing this gospel — which is the power of God — instead of people having head knowledge of what is written in the Bible because as it is written in the scriptures, …”knowledge puffs up but love EDIFIES”. You can have all the head knowledge in the world or have seminary degrees about people teaching you about what the Bible says; but if you don’t have the love of God, and you don’t have His Spirit in you (which comes when you have first believed in Jesus), then you’re not going to understand the knowledge about who God is because you won’t know Him personally — again just like the Pharisees who didn’t believe in Jesus were like.
As I mentioned in my Cybrscribe post: Did you know that writing is also studying?, I spoke about how writing is another way to study. So as a scribe for Christ writing when inspired by the Holy Spirit is also studying the Word of God—Jesus Himself, beyond just the pages of the Bible.
As you write, God is helping you develop your voice and allowing you to learn more about Him from various perspectives that resonates with His truth as He has done and continues to do with me.
Through this creative process, you're invited to explore new dimensions of His teachings which is very intimate. So in the process of writing for Christ you are learning more about Him personally. These revelations won't contradict the Scriptures of course; but instead, they'll enrich your understanding with fresh insights and lessons that might remain hidden if you only approached the Scriptures in a traditional sense.
Photo by juan pablo rodriguez on Unsplash
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