I admit it. I don’t like to read instructions! I figure that if it isn’t intuitive enough to figure out without instructions it’s not well designed. It usually works, although never for television remotes I have discovered. For those, even the instructions don’t help!
Another place it does not work is in negotiating life without God’s instructions – Scripture. One of the greatest favors we can do to our congregations – or friends is to encourage people to simply read the Bible on a regular basis. I know congregations who actually do this together to encourage one another to develop the habit of being in the word regularly. Whenever people read His word, God meets them there. So simple, so powerful!
In the Middle Ages, the Bible was inaccessible to most people. Illiteracy was high, and the Scriptures, where they existed were usually in Latin. People were at the mercy of what the priests told them about the word. Ironically, with all our translations today, the Bible is accessible to most of us but is simply neglected by many – thinking that they can negotiate life through second hand knowledge – what they pick up at church services or in their small group.
Spiritual transformation is on the minds of many of us today. Foundational to all such transformation is a personal knowledge of God’s word to us. First hand, not second hand! One of the greatest favors we can do to the people of our congregations is to find creative ways to get them into Scripture. So simple but so basic.
No comments:
Post a Comment