Knowing Christ - Conformed to His Image

Philippians 3:5b-11 Knowing Christ - Conformed to His Image

I'm reading a book which I enjoy very much. It is by Jack Deere; "Surprised By The Voice Of God". The sub title is "How God speaks Today Through Prophecies, Dreams, and Visions". As I write this I am about half way through the book. He reveals the methods of God's speaking to us and teaches how to hear the voice of God. He has a high regard for Scripture and believes that because Scripture teaches and models God's methods of speaking we must accept them as true and expect God to speak.

To claim a high regard for Scripture and then ignore its truths and refuse to apply them to our lives is like examining a restaurant's menu, perhaps going to school to learn how to construct, read and interpret menus, but never ordering food! There is no "nourishment" in that. If we genuinely love the Word, we will seek it's reality for ourselves.

Dr. Deere puts it this way on page 107:

"Not only do we need to have faith and confidence in the Bible, we need to read it for the right reasons. C. S. Lewis wrote that when we come to the Scripture it's not a "question of learning a subject but of steeping ourselves in a Personality." In other words, our primary purpose for meditating on the Bible should be to meet Christ, to hear His voice, and to see Him more clearly that we might love him more passionately. Scripture reading is meant to aid in the process of "forming Christ within us" (Gal. 4:19)."

I agree. Like Paul in Philippians 3:1-ff, I have often put confidence in my knowledge of the Bible, or my system of hermeneutics or in previous studies. My attitude was wrong and the results of this kind of meditation, study and subsequent teaching was "dry", not satisfying. The purpose of a menu is to provide spiritual food resulting in growth, not that we become experts in studying it!

What is the correct attitude? Why Study the Bible? Paul reveals it when he says; "I want to know Christ and the power that raised him from the dead. I want to share in his sufferings and become like Him in his death." May you and I so love Him that we study His infallible, inerrant Word to find Him and to be conformed to His image, to be like Him.

"Lord Jesus, make me like you. May people see You and Your power working in me. When they see my life and hear me teach may they see Jesus, not one who "knows the Bible well". Cause us to know the Scriptures and to study them faithfully that we might know You."

Amen
Shalom

Bob Goldsby

Posted: December 30, 1996