How and when do we go to scripture? What do we turn to the Word of God for? This past week in Sunday School, I (Mr. King) was talking to Brent Smith (Gordy) in our opening puppet show. Gordy was wearing a chamois in order to divine God's desires for him like Gideon did with lamb skin (Judges 6). Unfortunately, Gordy wanted to know what soccer team to play for and wanted more of his mom's chocolate cheese cake.
Eugene Peterson admonishes this kind of attitude toward use of God's Word and going to God by calling it the "new trinity" of the "holy wants, holy needs, and holy feelings." His admonishment is that we have taken God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and made him in our own likeness, and seek his will to affirm our own. The Word of God, then, becomes our source for answers for perceived needs and known desires, and to gain a feeling (inspiration is Peterson's word) rather than as a place to go to God on His terms, to hear His Word and literally digest His Word, and to learn about God and what His desires are for us as hearers and followers of His Word (Peterson, Eat This Book, 2006).
Mr. King told Gordy about Matthew 7, where Christ instructs us to ask, seek, and knock. But think of it like this: ask, and it will be given to you (God will answer you in His time). Seek, and you will find it (read God's Word on His terms to learn about God and His desires for us as followers in our lives). Knock, and it will be opened to you (you have to do something as you discern God's desires).
Pray that we go to God on His terms, that as men of God we go to Him to hear His desires for us on His terms. Pray that we act in accordance to God's desires for us.
Hope Men's Ministry
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