As Oswald’s piercing words about the apparent lack of evidence of sainthood in my life still ring in my ears, I gulp the rest of the coffee down to the dregs and stumble into the kitchen for round two.
Having the last shred of excuse clobbered out of me by Mr. Chamber’s uncompromising dedication to the Lord Jesus and to my becoming a saint (whatever that means), I find myself suddenly rather awake and wondering what on-line Webster would say about the meaning of the word ‘saint’... or Wikipedia... or perhaps, even Vine's Dictionary of New Testament Words... I know, I know, I am nuts about words... it's my background, guys! C'mmon, I am a literature geek!
However, instead of being distracted by my perpetual curiosity and running down the rabbit trails the life so aptly affords me all the time, I write the word down on my mental chalkboard for future further exploration. Even though in my humble opinion it is quite antiquated, it seems rather important in the economy where Oswald Chambers lives and operates. Over the years I've learned, if it is important to O.C., it'd better be important to me
My ego thoroughly bruised, my second cup of coffee in my hand, I know I am ready for the real thing. So, I turn on the shiatsu massager for my soul, AKA as The Holy Bible and crack the book open where I last left it off.
I must admit here that for quite a while I wasn't accustomed to doing this. In fact, I used to have a shot-gun approach to reading the Bible.
But then I heard a story about a man who is asking God to reveal His will to him through reading the Bible and the first verse that his eyes fall on after praying and opening the book were,
Judas went and hang himself…
The man is shaking his head, thinking,
Lord, this must be a mistake! So, he closes his Bible quickly and reopens it again, and the next verse he sees is,
Go and do likewise.
By now the man is shaking in his boots and with his trembling fingers, he tries it one more time.
His misty eyes fall on the words,
What you do, do quickly!
I may not be the sharpest knife in a drawer, but upon hearing this story I started wondering if perhaps there could be a better approach to reading my Bible than this random 'shot in the dark' spiritual roulette.
Mercifully, during that time I also learned about the importance of reading individual biblical passages within their immediate context (chapter/s, entire book), with view of the audience (who is it addressed to) as well as the writer’s intent and purpose for writing (why is he writing to this particular audience). This approach involved a bit more work, but it was well-worth it.
Then I also heard somebody talking about the importance of continuity as we read the Scriptures. And that simple word, continuity, seemed to forever change the way I read my Bible.
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