Matthew 7:2 on Wednesday, December 16, 2015
Extras
I will add extras throughout this blog of hints, tips, thoughts, questions, etc. which help us live a closer walk with God and to savor the Bible all the more.
Today is one of those days. Since extras are included in this blog post.
Why Should You Read This Blog?
Why should you read this blog, when it is my personal Bible study, journaling, and notes? It is meant to be an inspiration, like a Bible study or journaling prompt, to help give you ideas on how to walk with God yourself and savor the Bible. If you were to use my S.O.A.P. as an example, then you could do your own S.O.A.P. and personalize if for you and your life.
This blog is meant to be a resource for you to help get you thinking and motivated to fully savor the Bible in your own life.
Let's face it. We live in a fallen world and fallen people do fallen things... you and me included. And, one of the things we have let slide is getting into the Bible and fully savoring it. We think a quick radio message during the day or a sermon on Sunday is enough. We also may be in Sunday school, or in Bible study, and we do not do our homework. Or, if we do our homework, we rush through it. Or, we think a verse of the day sent to us via email or an app is enough.
Do you see a common thread with all of those? We let someone else do the work for us. We do not do the work or the time. After all, we are too busy. After all, we... fill in the blank of excuses...
Moreover, after we do one or several of those things, we fail to review. We think one time of doing any of those things means we've got it, we've grasped it, and we will remember it. We've checked the box. At least we tried... We think... We justify to ourselves... We settle for a good enough faith. What we do is good enough, we say. We have more pressing matters: work, serving, exercise, hanging out with friends and loved ones, watching TV or movies, playing games, etc.
Do you see the problem here? We are not savoring the Bible.
What does it mean to savor?
Think of your absolute favorite food or dish. Or think of going to a fancy restaurant you can only afford to go to once or twice in your lifetime. If you want to get your money's worth, you will slow down to savor it and thoroughly enjoy it. You do not rush. You make sure the flavor hits every taste bud on your tongue and lingers. You do not chew fast, nor do you swallow fast. You make sure you savor it and thoroughly enjoy it. You take your time to acknowledge the true treat and blessing it is. You try to fully live in that moment. You savor the taste, the sustenance, and the experience of that food.
If we were to truly savor the Bible, just imagine how differently your walk with God would be. Imagine how different you would view the Bible.
This is the purpose of this blog and is why you should read this blog.
How Could I Have Missed This Truth for So Long?
How have I... How could I have missed this truth for so long? How did I miss this truth that I/we are to thoroughly savor the Bible?
I am ashamed. Upset with myself. How have I been so clueless and missed this?
SAVOR the Bible.
Look at Dictionary.com's definition of savor:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/savor?s=t
To savor means it gives you delight, excitement, and enjoyment. It brings interest and you relish it.
Look at the synonyms of savor:
http://www.thesaurus.com/browse/savor?s=t
To savor is to treasure, taste, esteem, adore, bask, honor, appreciate, praise, etc.
If I read again the links and everything I wrote in the previous section, and in this section, then I get a fuller picture of how I am, of how we are to, savor the Bible. It is our most treasured and appreciated delight. Or, at least, that is what the very Word of God, the Holy Bible, should be. And that is how we should treat it.
We are to savor the Word and to keep savoring the Bible, every day, all day and night long, for the rest of our lives.
If I were to thoroughly, intentionally savor the Bible, I cannot imagine the sweetness I would experience.
I keep searching for something that brings my faith and walk with God as deep as possible. This is how. By savoring the Bible thoroughly.
What do you think? Seriously. What do you think? (You might want to journal your answer.)
How could I have missed this for so long?
Oh, the transformation this will bring my faith... and my life!
So, shall we? Shall we savor the Bible? Shall we savor the Bible individually... and together?
Evaluating Our Walk with God
As I write this, it is December 16th, and almost the end of the year. (However, no matter when you read this, you can look at the last year from your today, whether it is February or August or some other month.) I cannot help but stop and reflect on the past year and my walk with God, which extends to the last decade and beyond, and my walk as a whole the last four decades plus. This time of year makes me feel reflective and want to be reflective, after all.
How has my walk with God been? Is it working? What has gone well in my walk and why? What hasn't gone well and why?
What have I read, studied, journaled, memorized, contemplated, and applied of the Bible?
Have I always given thanks?
Have I prayed without ceasing?
Those are actually questions we should ask of ourselves daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly--and do so without fail. We should do so in a journal.
A HINT AND TIP: The truth is, unless we journal about our walk with God, what we learn, what we want to apply, and our evaluation of our walk, we will not remember the whole picture. We will remember what we only choose to remember. Therefore, it is important to journal as we walk with God.
I realize another year has gone by and I failed to stay loyal, and complete, the things God put on my heart with prayer, giving thanks, and savoring the Bible. Year after year, I have said the same thing. Ugh.
Do you ever feel this way? Have you ever?
Questions bubble up inside of me at this point. What am I not getting? What is the thorn that gets me so sidetracked? How can I tell when I am drifting off course? How can I add more prayer, thanks, and Bible in my life each and every day?
Yes. I need to ask myself seriously each of the questions I have listed up to this point. In my journal.
Hah! Something just hit me. The answer is right in front of me, at my fingertips. It's this blog. And something else just hit me, too. Let me explain.
How can I tell if I am actively walking with God each day? If I write and publish a blog post. I can tell just by opening up this blog. This is the first thing I just realized. The other thing I realized is this: If I am actively, intentionally savoring the Bible each day, I will be praying and giving thanks naturally. It will just happen.
Consequently, this blog (journal and Bible study) is the answer and it will be quite easy for me to consistently evaluate the state of affairs with my walk with God.
It really is that simple, thank You, Jesus.
If I am actively, intentionally savoring the Bible with every ounce of my being, and am doing so 24/7/365, I will be right where I need to be in my faith. I just need to fully and completely absorb my S.O.A.P. and memory verses each day, all day and night long.
The same is true for you. How can you do the same? Keep your own blog and/or journal. It really is that simple.
Why Keep a Journal?
I already addressed this in this blog post as a hint or tip. I also discussed it in the last section. Now, let me try to make it personal for you, not for me.
Our memories are faulty. We simply cannot and do not remember everything. Hence, journaling is essential. It helps us remember. Our jounals become our storage spaces or buildings. Journal and remember what God has said to you, how you savored the Bible each day, and what you want to apply to your life (or what you have tried to apply).
Journal as much as possible as often as possible each day as you thoroughly savor the Bible.
My Goal with This Bible Study and Blog
It is my goal with this Bible study and blog to create a resource of every interaction I have with the Word of God and have it in one place. It will be a Bible study and a personal journal of application and evaluation. I want to share a S.O.A.P. Bible study with every chapter and every verse of the Bible in time, and would love to do multiple S.O.A.P. Bible studies with each chapter and verse during my life. I think this will be an amazing resource and am thrilled I came up with the idea, with the Lord's guidance, on November 28, 2015.
This will be a Bible study, daily devotional, spiritual memoir, and journal of application all rolled into one and I think you will find it an amazing resource. In fact, I hope this makes you want to do the same and this blog and Bible study can encourage and inspire you.
Let me rephrase this another way. This blog is meant to be a resource of every S.O.A.P. Bible study I do and every note I ever take on each verse of the Bible. Needless to say, this is a work in progress and will take me decades to do so. Moreover, I hope I have another forty years or more to keep adding to the material on this blog. That way, I can keep sharing what I learn about each and every verse in the Bible.
It Figures
It figures. My husband and I woke up this morning and noticed it was awfully chilly in our house. Huh. We keep our heat at 67 at night and 68 during the day. When I went downstairs and looked at the thermostat, it said 61 degrees. Needless to say, I turned around and headed upstairs to tell my husband about our heater. He spend off and on over the next hour and a half trying to diagnose and figure it out. He got it working, though. Thank God. He was late to work as well, but called in and let his boss know. Figures. Heater issues when it was and is in the low twenties.
Then, I wrote this blog post, all the things prior to this point. The savoring the Bible part blew me away. I had to share it. Hence, I called my mom to tell her about it. I read those sections to her. I could tell she felt convicted, like I did. Then, out of the blue, I smelled a burning smell. Yikes. I told her about it and started to walk through my house, trying to figure out where the smell came from. When I entered our HVAC room, the burning smell made my eyes burn. I called my husband and now the furnace is shut completely off and my husband will figure it out when he gets home from work (please, Lord). It is twenty-four degrees outside. Yikes.
That took almost an hour of my time. It was meant to get me sidetracked and forget what I have learned. Well, I won't let it. I reviewed my memory verses of Matthew 7 and am back here doing this "Matthew 7: A Thorough S.O.A.P. Bible Study." I learned how I am to savor the Bible and am going to, no matter what... even if I have icicles hanging from my nose shortly.
It figures.
This could make me frustrated and I could rant about how this stinks. Instead, I will savor the Bible. The frustrations of this world are temporary. His Word is eternal. Hence, which should I focus on? Savoring the Bible is the only way to counteract the things of this world. Savoring the Bible is the only way to find true joy and peace.
It might figure... having problems with our furnace. But, I will savor the Bible regardless. I have determined.
SCRIPTURE
Sometimes we need to listen to the Word, not just read it inwardly, and not just read it aloud. Sometimes, we have to hear it. Here's a link to listen to Matthew 7:
https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/mcconachie/hcsb/Matt.7
It also helps to hear the Word and read it at the same time. This is actually my favorite way to read the Bible. There is something about reading it and hearing the Word at the same time that brings the Bible to life. It adds more depth.
Now, the focus verse for today is Matthew 1:2. I'm going to include more context here and more verses.
Matthew 7:1-4 Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)
1 “Do not judge, so that you won’t be judged. 2 For with the judgment you use, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. 3 Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye but don’t notice the log in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and look, there’s a log in your eye?
-- Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB). Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville Tennessee. All rights reserved.
Notice the verse doesn't say that we should fail to use discernment. Discernment deals with the facts and distinguishes between good and evil. Discernment deals with facts.
Judgment deals with opinions.
Distinguish between good and evil in an individual's actions, but do not condemn them for it. Keep the good and evil between you and God and do not vocalize it unless you have looked within and are praying, thanking, and meditating on the Word without ceasing. And then, you will acknowledge the behavior may be sinful, but it's not for you to say the person is sinful. That's between them and God alone.
Look in the mirror. Get right in your walk with God. Again, this is the drawing line.
OBSERVATION
Do not judge or measure someone else.
APPLICATION
See the above.
PRAYER
Help me to focus far more on You and Your Word than on the sins, wrongdoings, negative perceptions, of others.
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