Deere Droppings, #3

An excerpt from Jack Deer in his book, Surprised by the Voice of God :

“

Treasuring the Bible

In order to experience the power of the Scriptures, our attitude and desire to obey them is crucial. Yet the main reason the Bible is ineffective in the lives of so many Christians is that they simply don’t read it. Make up your mind to set aside a regular time every day to meditate on the Scriptures, so you can hear the voice of God and see the glory of the Lord Jesus. When you do, you will find that the voice of the Son of God is indescribably sweet, and the face of the Lord Jesus, indescribably lovely (Song 2:14).

Anyone who wants to hear God’s voice on a regular basis will have to become intimately acquainted with the written word of God. I have been treasuring the Word of God in my heart for over thirty years, and I don’t regret a moment of the time I have spent reading, meditating, and memorizing the words of Scripture. If I could turn back time and do those thirty years over again, I would spend even more time meditating on the Bible and less time reading of other Christian books.

Many times the Holy Spirit has brought the words of Scripture to my mind, not only to guide me, but also to save me from disasters. He has used the words of Scripture to guide me in serving others, to keep me from hurting them, and to increase my love for his Son and his people.

(p. 112)

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Although I haven’t been a Christian (or even alive) as long as Jack Deere, the words he speaks in this passage tell very much the same story as what I’ve come to understand about the Bible, God and my (our) relationship with Him. I’ve never once regretted spending time reading my Bible or studying it diligently. Like Jack Deere, the one thing I would change if I were to re-do the past 25 years of my Christianity, I would also spend more time reading the Bible & I’d also try harder to apply what it says to my life—for of the little I have applied to my life, I’ve seen amazing results. Too bad I’ve wasted so much time not following to & not listening closely enough to the Word of God.

 

The great thing, however, is that the future and the rest of my life indeed can be changed with a simple decision today.  We all choose our own paths and our pasts.

Another Insight from Jack Deere et al.

An excerpt from Jack Deer in his book, Surprised by the Voice of God :

“

Attitude Matters

Any coach will tell you that the right diet and exercise are essential for optimum performance. But a good coach knows you can have both diet and exercise and still lose if the players don’t have the right attitude. Listen to the story of Matt Biondi:

Americans who follow swimming had high hopes for Matt Biondi, a member of the U.S. Olympic Team in 1988. Some sportswriters were touting Biondi as likely to match Mark Spitz’s 1972 feat of taking seven gold medals. But Biondi finished a heartbreaking third in his first event, the 200-meter freestyle. In his next event, the 10-meter butterfly, Biondi was inched out for the gold by another swimmer who made a greater effort in the last meter.

Sportscasters speculated that the defeats would dispirit Biondi in his successive events. But Biondi rebounded from defeat and took a gold medal in his next five events. One viewer who was not surprised by Biondi’s comeback was Martin Seligman, a psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania, who had tested Biondi for optimism earlier that year. In an experiment done with Seligman, the swimming coach told Biondi during a special event meant to showcase Biondi’s best performance that he had a worse time than was actually the case. Despite the downbeat feedback, when Biondi was asked to rest and try again, his performance—actually already very good—was even better. But when other team members were given a false bad time—and whose test scores showed they were pessimistic—tried again, they did even worse the second time.

Biondi's confident attitude made the difference between a good swimmer and a champion.

Attitude is critical in the world of athletics. It’s even more critical when we talk about reading the Bible. The words of God will never benefit us unless we believe them (Heb. 3:7-19). If my friend Dorothy had not believed the words of Luke 24:26, those words would never have turned her away from her suicidal course. Reading and attempting to obey the Bible without having confidence in God’s words robs the Bible of its power.

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)

(pages 106-107)

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On a wall in my house, I have a poster with this quote from Chuck Swindoll:

“

Attitudes

Words can never adequately convey the incredible impact of our attitude toward life. The longer I live the more convinced I am that life is 10 percent what happens to us and 90 percent how we respond to it.

I believe the single most significant decision I can make on a day-to-day basis is my choice of attitude. It is more important than my past, my education, my bankroll, my successes or failures, what other people think of me or say about me, my circumstances, or my position. Attitude keeps me going or cripples my progress. It alone fuels my fire or assaults my hope. When my attitudes are right, there’s no barrier too high, no valley too deep, no dream too extreme, no challenge too great for me.

Things I’m (re)learning in seminary.

An excerpt from Jack Deer in his book, Surprised by the Voice of God :

“

I grew up loving sports. I was so active physically, I never had to be concerned about my diet. Then I graduated from college, went to seminary, got married, and started a family. With all those responsibilities, my athletic activity slowed down—and so did my metabolism. I began the battle of the bulge. Over the years, through various diets, I lost hundreds of pounds. Of course, I managed to find them again, every one of them, and a few new ones as soon as I got off the diet. Occasionally I mixed regular periods of exercise with the diets and got better results, but none lasted.

About two years ago I threw away all the diets that promised quick fixed and started eating foods low in fat. My tastes have now changed. I actually prefer low-fat foods to the fatty stuff I used to eat. I don’t go on diets any more, and I never go hungry. I have found a lifestyle I can live with day in and day out.

I also started an exercise program with a good friend of mine, Benny and I meet at a local gym three to five times a week to work out with weights and do some aerobic activity. The result of all this is that I‘m in better physical condition now than when I was in high school or college.

When I first started a low-fat diet and exercise program, I didn’t notice much change in my physical appearance or in my health. Actually, it was about three months before I noticed any significant difference. After nine months though, the difference was dramatic.

I learned a very important lesson through all this. One workout doesn’t change you, and diets you can’t live with day after day aren’t going to help you either. It is the repeated workouts over a period of months, even years, that dramatically change you.

The same is true with the Bible. A little Bible reading won’t really change you. It is the daily meditation, month after month, year after year, that changes you. Reading the Bible is very much like eating food. Food is fuel for the body, but without exercise, it can’t be used to build up and repair the body. In the same way, the Bible is fuel for the soul, but without exercise, the soul will shrink into a weakened state, just as our muscles do without exercise.

The first step to spiritual health is taking the right fuel day after day. The second step is using the fuel to make right, often hard, choices every day. Over several years, obeying the Bible, not simply reading it, produces Christ-like character. Quick fixes don’t exist in the spiritual realm any more than they do in the natural realm.

(pages 105-106)