3.4 Scripture

When we hear the word scripture, that can conjure up a lot of different reactions. For some of us, it might be confusing, new, or intimidating. And for others, it can be inspiring, comforting, or even spark a sense of obligation. Cultivating the practice of scripture requires us to acknowledge what our attitude is towards the Bible and the Word of God that lives in it. This practice is all about seeing scripture for what it truly is and the role that it's intended to play in our lives. I want to get something out of the way right off the bat. The Bible is not a textbook. It isn't something that we will ever master, and it is not something that is supposed to be read with the intent of possessing all of the knowledge it holds. We will spend our entire lives reading the scriptures and always walk away with new convictions reflections, and contemplations. And that is because the scriptures are not simply words on a page, but something that is living and breathing. The book of Hebrews clears this up for us in chapter 4 verse 12, which reads, For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Now what does that mean for us? It means that even though the words on the pages were written by 40 different authors over 4,000 years, they were all guided by the Spirit of God who still works in us when we read those words today. Second Timothy chapter 3 verses 16 and 17 tells us that the very words we read were inspired and guided by the Holy Spirit when it says, All scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete and equipped for every good work. Notice the end there, prepared and equipped for every good work. Scripture accomplishes this through a process called illumination.

So let me explain. You ever notice how you could read one Bible verse, share it in a group, and realize that you and another person walked away with a completely different insight from it? That's called the illumination of the Holy Spirit, because when we read the scriptures, the author is in the room with us. It doesn't redefine the truth the scripture is communicating, it simply applies that truth to the specific circumstances he is navigating us through in our lives. This is why cultivating a strong practice of scripture in our lives is so important. A key part of our apprenticeship to Jesus is allowing scripture to consistently shape our imagination, emotions, words, and actions. The great evangelist and theologian Charles Spurgeon captured our relationship with scripture perfectly when he said, Nobody ever outgrows scripture. The book widens and deepens with our years. Here's the thing. In order to build a healthy practice of scripture in our lives, we cannot simply try to add it to the already chaotic schedules most of us are living with. Ask someone how they are doing today, and within the first few minutes, the word busy is bound to come up. Busy and the discipline of scripture just don't jive. To develop this practice, we need to create intentional space to slow down and simplify our lives during the moments we engage with scripture, because only in those intentional moments will we be quiet enough to hear the Spirit speak. Now I'm not talking about living in a monastery or becoming a monk. I'm talking about finding 10 to 15 minutes a day where we have one sole purpose, to sit with Christ and allow His Spirit to explain His Word to us. So the first thing we have to do is create space. The second thing we have to cultivate is the right posture towards the space that we've created. The great teacher John Mark Comer says it like this,

Studying scripture as apprentices of Jesus requires us to read formationally, not informationally. We cannot approach scripture only with a posture of learning the information the words are trying to convey, but also, and arguably more importantly, we need to listen to what those words are trying to do in our heart. Our hearts must be postured to be transformed, not just our minds to be informed. So, we have the space, we have prayed for our hearts to have the right posture, and one of my favorite methods of reading scripture is centuries-old and has a really fitting name, Lectio Divina. It's a meditative practice that has surfaced throughout church history and follows these four simple steps—read, meditate, pray, and contemplate. Let me show you how that takes shape in my own practices of reading scripture. It starts with reading. I will often read a full chapter or a set of chapters, start to finish, and it might come from a reading plan or simply from slowly working through a single book of the Bible, chapter by chapter. While I'm reading, I always have a pen or a highlighter nearby so that any verse I feel particularly drawn to, I can mark. Then I go back to the verses I highlighted and spend time meditating on them. All that means is asking myself, what is this trying to teach me, and why did this verse catch my attention? I may journal briefly here, or I may just sit quietly with the text. Then we pray. I ask God to show me what He wanted me to see in that verse, and I thank Him for giving us the spirit to illuminate the text for us. And lastly, I contemplate. This is where my journal really comes into play. Some days it's long, and some days it's just one sentence. But I try to write it simply so that throughout the day I can remember it, reflect on it, and allow it to shape the way I move through that day. At the end of this practice, the goal is pretty simple.

Scripture is meant to be a mirror that we look at ourselves against and a map that guides our lives. The goal is for God's thoughts to be so deeply formed in us that in both hardship and joy, we begin to think and feel the way He does. We learn to see the world through His eyes. That is what a deep practice of Scripture builds in our lives. Not a greater independence through the knowledge that we acquire, but a greater dependence on the relationship we build.