Christian Blogs, Millpond Ink Musing
Millpond Ink Musing, 2015 – Of Taking Time
We are instructed to study to show ourselves approved workmen and that the Word of God is a double edged sword. We know this, but do we do what is taught? Or do we primarily rely only on what we hear from the pulpit or others? Why do we deny ourselves the joy, and yes, the periodic humiliation of discovery of our own sinfulness during those moments that we spend alone with the One we call our Father?
Do we know personally and intimately the working of God within us through His Spirit as we plumb the depths of His Word? Do we find ourselves experiencing the joy of the resurrection morning; running with Peter to see for himself the empty tomb? Are we relieved when Abigail hurries her servants to prepare to meet David and his men before he arrives at her home and spills her husband’s, Nabal’s blood? Do we know what it means that our hearts are above all most deceitful, and we must address the plank in our own eye; lest we walk it later?
My grandfather, Thomas Shepard, wrote the following; which prompted my morning thoughts. “…if ever thy heart be broken, and thy conscience be awaked, the word must do it; but people are so sermon-trodden, that their hearts, like footpaths, grow hard by the word.”
I fear this describes many church goers; who look solely and primarily to the sermon and not to their daily walk with God in the garden of His Word. The path they chose to follow was the well worn foot path of many sermons-all heard before. However, what about living them? To do so, we must approach God through His Word and Spirit, to learn it anew. Such is the strait and narrow; vital and real; shared with others, yes, but tilled daily; not left to harden as a path trampled under foot.
