Meditating on Scripture

Conviction comes from being exposed to and influenced by God's Word. To maximize the impact, we must memorize and meditate on scripture. To memorize scripture, we must have a plan. That plan must include, first, a selection of well chosen verses. Second, a practical system for learning these verses. Third, a systemati means of reviewing these verses to keep them fresh in our minds. And finally, simple rules for continuing scripture memory on your own.
[credits go to Jerry Bridges]

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

1 Corinthians 9:24-26

Humility and the Word

I think that I am a leader. I think that I am a decision-maker, a mover and shaker, a thought leader. My pride tells me that I am influencing others and setting direction, but that is far from the truth.

I am influenced from so many directions. The media influences me. It nudges me what to buy, what TV and movies to watch and often what to think. Society trains me how to act, what fashion to wear and even what sports teams to cheer for. In the Summer I wear orange, in the winter it is purple and in March I am a Terps fan.

God knew this. He made us to be influenced, but he made us to be influenced by His Word. God made us so that we will listen, apply, absorb and change. But when I do that to anything but His Word, I perfer the divine plan. God gave this plan to the Kings of Israel to follow:

And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them, that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel (Deut 17:19-20)

He charged Joshua to meditate on His Word (Joshua 1:8) and David tells us the many blessings on attending to God's word (Psalm 1:2-3). There are many references to the benefits to God's Word. But let me cap it with this. The longest chapter in the Bible, Psalm 119, is a poem to the blessing and benefits of Bible intake.

Pride deceives me into thinking that I am the wind, the current, the tide and the compass. But in fact, humility tells me that I am not much more than a piece of drift wood, a toy sailboat. But if I am that piece of wood, I will choose that living breath that fills my sail.

Pursuit of Holiness

Been spending my time in The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges. Something I read recently angered me:

But if we have been delivered from this realm, why do we still sin? Thought God has delivered us from the reign of sin, our sinful natures still reside within us. Even though sin’s dominion and rule are broken, the remaining sin that dwells in believers exerts a tremendous power, constantly working toward evil

Bridges, Jerry, The Pursuit of Holiness, Pages 57-58

I realized that my flesh was set on destroying me. The father of lies and my sinful nature were teaming up to see the crippling and hopefully the destruction of my relationship with my children, my wife and if possible a crumbling of my relationship with God. And this team did not play by any rules. There are no time outs, no unwritten rules against running up the score. Hitting below the belt, deception and kicking when down are encouraged..

All too often and all to easily I saw myself cooperating with their plan. Pride, selfishness, and idolatry kept putting my mind at ease and discouraging a fight.

I need to resume the fight. As John Piper says, I need to be killing sin or sin will be killing me. I need to “make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires”, [Romans 13:14] but instead do what the first half of that verse says” put on the Lord Jesus Christ”.

Lord, help me renew the battle against sin, my sinful nature and the devil. Help me to see that you are the richest treasure, my great reward. My greatest satisfaction can only be found in you.