| I was flipping through the channels the other night. As I paused on a movie to see what it was, the scene was a father and son. They were just getting home and the father asked the son, "What did you learn today?" To which the boy replied, well dad, I know I learned something, but I can't remember what it was!" I laughed as I identified all too well with the boys experience.
My son Tyler is a smart kid. I remember when he was about 5 years old we had a weekly ritual. After church on Sunday morning our drive home was predictable. We would ask the kids about what they learned in Sunday School that day. We began to see a pattern emerging with Tyler. Every week when asked what he had learned, he responded with a one word answer, "Joseph!" At first we thought great, he's learning about Joseph in the Old Testament. Great story! But as the weeks went on, we began to realize that the odds were pretty slim that Sister Swan was doing a 22 week series on the life of Joseph for 5 year olds! He obviously wasn't listening and had found an answer that pacified mom and dad every week. Like I said, he's a smart kid.
I am seeing an emerging trend in the body of Christ. There is a lax attitude towards the things of God. Reading the Word, studying and memorizing scripture, applying it to our daily life. The Bible talks plainly about this. Proverbs 24 speaks of a man who passed by the field of a "sluggard" (or a lazy person). He saw the field was covered with weeds, walls in ruin. Then it says, "so I applied my heart to what I observed and learned a lesson from what I saw, a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come on you like a bandit!"
Yikes! As I read that I prayed, "Lord, help me to apply my heart to what I learn." Don't allow your spirit to become impoverished. I encourage you, if you have become lax in the things of God, start again, or maybe for the first time. Read with an attitude of receiving. Apply your heart to what you learn, ask the Lord to speak to you through your study time, then listen for His response. He's waiting for you to listen, He's waiting for you to apply. |
