Most liturgical church services begin by the minister saying, “The Lord be with you.” The congregation responds by saying, “And also with you.”  One Sunday the minister began the service, but the microphone didn’t work.  He tapped on it and finally said, “There’s something wrong with this!”  And the congregation answered, “And also with you.”

When you take something like that, out of context, it becomes a joke.  The same is true of Scripture and I should know. 

As I think back, I found that I have approached Scripture in a variety of ways. 

When I was young, I used the Ignore It method.  Scripture was contained in a big book that sat on a podium at church.  I didn’t have access to it, so it was easy to ignore.  Most of us have Bibles today, but they also sit untouched on a nightstand or a bookshelf.

I graduated to the Twist it approach.  Some of my teenage peers would share Biblical truth with me.  But when the truth did not mesh with my beliefs or my life preferences, I found ways to twist it – to take it out of context or make words mean other than what they were intended to mean.  This is a very popular way today for both non-Christians and even many Christians to approach Scripture. 

At age 19 I was born again, and I adopted a new way to handle Scripture.  It was the Feel It approach.  I got a Bible and read it voraciously, but I was concerned not with what I needed to believe or how I should live but rather on how it made me feel. I wanted to feel good, so I skipped over the parts that challenged or corrected me and gobbled up the truth that warmed my soul. 

Not one of those three previous approaches was very helpful to me. They were actually impediments to knowing and growing in the Lord.  

By God’s grace I eventually learned the best way to handle Scripture.  I call it the Chew it and Do it approach.   I have learned to chew on the things I read in Scripture, marinating my mind with the truth.  I try to understand the context of a passage and consider cultural issues of the biblical settings.  I let the words speak for themselves and I explore even that which makes me feel uncomfortable.

And then of course I do it.  I do my best to apply the truth.  I don’t understand all of it, but what I get, I do my best to obey.

This is what Paul intended when he wrote, “Every scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the person dedicated to God may be capable and equipped for every good work” – 2 Timothy 3:16-17. NETBible®

I have a self-propelled lawnmower.  I steer it while the power of the engine turns the wheels.  Recently, however, I was mowing a wet lawn and headed up a hill.  The mower quit moving forward.  The wheels were spinning.

What a realistic picture of so many people today – trying to move forward but pointlessly spinning their wheels instead.  That was me for sure until I learned the Chew It and Do It way to approach Scripture. 

I rely on Scripture to do marriage.  My wife and I have just entered our 50th year.  I relied on Scripture to do parenting.  Our adult kids love Jesus, married Christian spouses, they are serving at church and raising their children in the faith.   

I have relied on Scripture to teach me how to work.  When I was about to leave one job for another, my former bosses always wanted me to stay. 

Please understand – I am not boasting here–just simply saying that a life lived in obedience to the Word of God, is a life that works.  Unlike that microphone at church!

And “May the Lord be with you!”

A PRAYER: Lord, help me make time to thoroughly chew and to do Your truth.

This has been Jim Johnson and pickleheavenpress.com