Here’s the questions I’ve been coming up with lately:
- When I read Scripture, do I want to learn more about Jesus or do I want to become more like Jesus?
- Do I want to be informed about what the Bible says, or do I want to be transformed by the renewing of my mind that I might know the will of God? (Romans 12: 1-2)
I’ve been reading and using a devotional by Dallas Willard, and he wrote so gently and with so much challenge on these questions. I’ve read through the Bible many, many times, and I know it is good, and I’ve no regrets. And lately I have been reading slower, and memorizing larger passages of Scripture, and letting it soak in my mind and heart. After another blowup with a family member, I was reviewing the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), and Jesus telling His followers to “love your enemies” and the rest. Suddenly I was led to 1 Corinthians 13, and read again that love keeps no record of wrongs.
Well I’ve spent many years — decades! — keeping records of wrongs, and keeping records of wrongs done or imagined done to me by people I profess to love. What’s going on here?
I want to be transformed. I want to become more like the Teacher I follow, and less like the role models often set before me. I want to be a man of peace, a child of God, a follower of Jesus.
Frank
