Translating Truth into Life
Sep. 4 2006
Everybody has a routine. Routine brings order to a very chaotic morning. Imagine: you wake up at 5:30 am and immediately put on your bathing suit to go play golf with three nuns you met on the street corner. What’s wrong with this picture? It’s way too random. (And nuns don’t hang out on street corners.) Random is great in movies, but routine is where we live. However when it comes to Scripture, I think we can be very random.
Have you ever done this in the morning? You wake up wanting to be spiritual and meet with God. You crack open your Bible and ask, “Uh...what do I read?” I have done this.
So what do you do about it? First, get to know the story line of the Bible. You have to know the big picture before you can get into the verse. Read large chucks of scripture in one sitting. For example, take a Sunday afternoon and spend an hour reading the whole book of 1 Corinthians. You can do it. And the more you do this, the more you get to know what the whole point of the letter is. After this, take an afternoon or three hours and read the book of Genesis. I’m serious. It’s an amazing narrative of God’s faithfulness to redeem sinful people. It’s worth the time.
Second, while you are getting a good dose of the big picture and getting to know the story line of the Bible, start to take what you are learning and apply it to your daily life. Remember what James said, if you are not doers of the word, you are delusional. God wants us not just to read this word and believe this word, he wants us to do it.
How do we apply scripture to daily life? This is what I do. (And I’m not saying it’s the only way--there are plenty of people out there who do this much better.) First of all, I am slow on the uptake--I can’t apply sixteen things at once, in one day. (Although sometimes I think I can.) But what I can do is apply one bit of truth to one bit of life. In all of the areas where I am trying to become more like Christ, I believe that God wants me to take one of those areas and apply one truth to it. As I continue to do this, by the power of God’s spirit, change happens. Here is the deal: if you seek to do the word, the Spirit of God will change you. Pretty cool.
So for instance...the other day I was angry at a friend. How did I know? First, I could not stop thinking about a conversation we had. Second, I was winning all the arguments in my head. He was always wrong and I was always right. Third, it was creating a strain in our relationship. Fourth, I felt guilty. Obviously, these are good clues that there is something wrong.
When I realized this, I began to pray and think through anger. I knew I needed a bit of truth for this bit of life. So I went to James. Why? Because I believe Scripture is useful. It is useful for teaching, correcting, training, and rebuking. I needed some correcting and rebuking. And James pulls no punches. He says, “know this...let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness that God requires” (1:19 ESV). Ouch.
Scripture is telling me is that anger is not the answer. If I want to be righteous before God in this relationship with my friend, then anger is not the way. I began to pray about it. Anger is easy to detect most of the time. But the hard work is trying to discern why. Do yourself a favor in your walk with Christ. If you want to grow in being more Christ like, pull the why question out as much as you can.
Why was I angry? James is helpful here too. He says God does not tempt anyone. “But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it is conceived gives birth to sin” (1:13-15 ESV).
This was so helpful. I was angry at my friend because of a desire. The next question Scripture asked me was, “Eric, what do you desire in this situation so much that you are now angry at your friend?” This is the second really important question you want to answer as you apply Scripture to life. It took a while in prayer to answer. In the end what I desired more than anything, even obeying God and loving my friend, was to be right in the situation. We were having a disagreement over something--he had one perspective and I had another. Because I am arrogant and always want to be right, this desire turned into a demand. It ruled me and my heart and my relationship more than God and his word. I was an idolater. I was worshipping something else instead of worshipping God. Realizing this was so helpful. I don’t want to worship being right more than God. God used his word to correct me and adjust me in that moment. He helped me repent and turn from this situation. It was amazing how in 30 minutes my relationship with this guy turned from one of strain and disconnect to one of affection and joy. God used his word that day to help me. This is always the heart of God. He wants us to go to his word as a refuge and find help. He wants us to apply a little bit of truth to a little bit of life.
Let’s kill the fuzziness and stop being random when it comes to our application of God’s word. Remember humble orthodoxy is a commitment to believing, living, and representing the truth with humility. The living part is the hardest; it’s also the most humbling.
...did I really say three nuns...?