| Good Morning Everyone, Our theme for this month: “Stay strong” Our Bible verse for today: “So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, ‘Take and eat it; it will be bitter in your stomach, but it will be as sweet as honey in your mouth. Then I took the little scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it.” Revelation 10:9-10 (CSB) Our thought for today: “Eat this book” In recent days we’ve considering the importance of staying spiritually strong so we will be ready to meet the trials and tribulations we all inevitably have to deal with in life. In a previous devotional I said that as important and helpful as good health and physical strength is, spiritual strength is actually our greatest asset. Therefore, doing the things necessary to get and stay spiritually strong is an essential factor in living the Christian life well. I’m currently reading an interesting little book by one of my favorite authors, Pastor Eugene Peterson. The title is, “Eat this book: A conversation in the art of spiritual reading”. The idea is based on three instances in Scripture when a man of God was instructed to “eat” a holy scroll. Those would be Ezekiel in Ezekiel 2:8; Jeremiah in Jeremiah 15:16; and the Apostle John in Revelation 10:9. “Eat this” of course, was metaphor. They were not really chewing on parchment and swallowing the pulp. Instead, they were to take what was written on the divinely inspired holy document, internalize it, and then think and act accordingly. About this Peterson writes: “Christians feed on Scripture. Holy Scripture nurtures the holy community as food nurtures the human body. Christians don’t simply learn or study or use Scripture; we assimilate it, take it into our lives in such a way that it gets metabolized into acts of love, cups of cold water, missions into all the world, healing and evangelism and justice in Jesus’ name, hands raised in adoration of the Father, feet washed in company with the Son.” Just as the food our body consumes is internalized, metabolized, converted into energy, and produces physical activity, our study of the Bible should have the same spiritual impact on us. Peterson goes on, “Eating a book takes it all in, assimilating it into the tissues of our lives. Readers become what they read. If Holy Scripture is to be something other than mere gossip about God, it must be internalized. “Readers become what they read.” I love that statement. If we truly do consume and internalize the Word of God it will determine not just how we think and what we say and how we act, but it will determine who we become. Yes, by all means, eat this book. God Bless, Pastor Jim |
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