I want to tell you a little story. This is a story about a man. Now this man has seen many things happen in his life. Many changes have occurred. During this man's high school years, he had grown very close to God. He fell in love with God's Word. He wanted to read it. He wanted to understand God better and knew that the only way he could was to read more of God's Word. He understood that on every page, within every sentence, every word, God was making Himself known. This man began to see God's personality beautifully displayed on the pages. And he felt closer to God than ever before. He was learning. He was seeing. He was feeling. He was not without his difficult moments. He had his ups and downs. But these only served to drive him more to reading the Word. He read pages every day that filled him with hope and wonder and strength for the day. He pushed himself to read the Word cover-to-cover over a period of a year and a half. He needed to know what it said. He knew that there was more to life than what he saw everyday.
This man had many amazing things happen to him. He got involved in a coffee house ministry near his home where he met incredible people. These people had so many stories to tell. They were so honest. Real. They pushed the man to want to know more. They asked him tough questions about God and faith. He needed to know more. He continued to read. To learn. To study. To understand. The words on the pages became life within the man.
One summer, the man goes away to work with kids. The kids were so alive. They had so many great things to say and questions to ask. Dull moments were hard to find. Although he was physically exhausted each day, he found rest in continuing his reading. The God who had been revealed through the Word was becoming real in the moment-by-moment experiences of life. His God-tank was filled everyday.
The man, after the summer ended, got a job at a retail store. It was sometimes boring work. But very quickly, the man came to really appreciate those he worked with. They were real. Many did not know God. This pushed the man to want to know even more. He studied more. He learned more. He understood more. He was growing. And he was used. God used the man in the life of one of the people he worked with. God was working in this other person's life. Many nights of closing up the store together allowed the two to talk about God. The other person had questions. The other person had never read God's Word. The man bought this other person a Word of their own. The other person began reading. The other person began to have questions answered. The other person came to love God and God's Word like the man. The other person's family now knows God too. More pages of the Word became real to the man.
Some time goes by. The man now works in an office. He sits in front of a computer screen for many hours a day. The man becomes very busy. He has many other things to think about. Responsibilities to take care of. His Word sits on his desk. He looks at it from time to time. He wants so much to open it and read it. He wants to study it. He wants to understand it. He wants the deep need to return. He slips. He feels so far away from God. All he wants is to be with God again. To know God again. To study God's personality. To understand God. But he is busy. So many other thoughts take up space in the man's mind. He does not have time for God's Word. To read it. To study it. To understand it. He slips more. His head still knows of God. But his deeper knowing of God and His realness are slipping. He cannot see God anymore. Feel God. Understand God. The once passionate, nutrients-filled relationship is suffocated.
The man now sits in his office typing a story about a man who is himself. The man realizes that he cannot see, feel, or understand God because the once life-giving Word sits cold on his desk. The connection is made. Just as the man cannot know what hot feels like unless he has touched something hot. So too, the man cannot know God unless he reads God's Word and studies it. And the man knows that because God is so beyond words to describe, this reading and studying and understanding must be an ongoing life activity.
The man sitting in his office writing the story about a man who is himself has relearned something today. You cannot see God without looking through the glasses that God has given. God appears fuzzy and small without these glasses. The Word is the glasses God has given. The man needs to read it again. He needs to study it again. He needs to understand it again. Otherwise, he will never again see or feel God.
This man had many amazing things happen to him. He got involved in a coffee house ministry near his home where he met incredible people. These people had so many stories to tell. They were so honest. Real. They pushed the man to want to know more. They asked him tough questions about God and faith. He needed to know more. He continued to read. To learn. To study. To understand. The words on the pages became life within the man.
One summer, the man goes away to work with kids. The kids were so alive. They had so many great things to say and questions to ask. Dull moments were hard to find. Although he was physically exhausted each day, he found rest in continuing his reading. The God who had been revealed through the Word was becoming real in the moment-by-moment experiences of life. His God-tank was filled everyday.
The man, after the summer ended, got a job at a retail store. It was sometimes boring work. But very quickly, the man came to really appreciate those he worked with. They were real. Many did not know God. This pushed the man to want to know even more. He studied more. He learned more. He understood more. He was growing. And he was used. God used the man in the life of one of the people he worked with. God was working in this other person's life. Many nights of closing up the store together allowed the two to talk about God. The other person had questions. The other person had never read God's Word. The man bought this other person a Word of their own. The other person began reading. The other person began to have questions answered. The other person came to love God and God's Word like the man. The other person's family now knows God too. More pages of the Word became real to the man.
Some time goes by. The man now works in an office. He sits in front of a computer screen for many hours a day. The man becomes very busy. He has many other things to think about. Responsibilities to take care of. His Word sits on his desk. He looks at it from time to time. He wants so much to open it and read it. He wants to study it. He wants to understand it. He wants the deep need to return. He slips. He feels so far away from God. All he wants is to be with God again. To know God again. To study God's personality. To understand God. But he is busy. So many other thoughts take up space in the man's mind. He does not have time for God's Word. To read it. To study it. To understand it. He slips more. His head still knows of God. But his deeper knowing of God and His realness are slipping. He cannot see God anymore. Feel God. Understand God. The once passionate, nutrients-filled relationship is suffocated.
The man now sits in his office typing a story about a man who is himself. The man realizes that he cannot see, feel, or understand God because the once life-giving Word sits cold on his desk. The connection is made. Just as the man cannot know what hot feels like unless he has touched something hot. So too, the man cannot know God unless he reads God's Word and studies it. And the man knows that because God is so beyond words to describe, this reading and studying and understanding must be an ongoing life activity.
The man sitting in his office writing the story about a man who is himself has relearned something today. You cannot see God without looking through the glasses that God has given. God appears fuzzy and small without these glasses. The Word is the glasses God has given. The man needs to read it again. He needs to study it again. He needs to understand it again. Otherwise, he will never again see or feel God.
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