On Sunday, we looked at the things we need to grow as Christians, comparing these to things plants need in the natural world to grow and noticing that any imbalance in these five basic needs (nutrients, water, light, warmth and space) will act as obstacles to our growth.
When looking at the first of these (nutrients), the question often arises in our diet-obsessed culture of which is the most important food type? Many diets focus on reducing the consumption of certain food types (cutting out carbohydrates, for example, or becoming vegetarian and thus reducing the protein we get from meats.) The less practical diets tend to ask us to limit our nutritional intake to certain food types only. It can be both difficult and quite boring to do this for any length of time, however, and the best long-term diet is surely one which has a balanced intake of nutrients.
We can act in a similar fashion in regard to our spiritual food, however. We need the whole of Scripture if we are to grow up balanced and whole. ‘All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.’ ( 2 Tim 3:16-17) So in our church teaching and in our personal reading of the Word, we need to make sure we are getting a balanced diet. The easiest way to do this, practically, is to read something from the Old Testament and something from the New Testament on a daily basis, reading methodically through God’s Word. We may well need help in interpreting or understanding what we read, but the first step is actually immersing ourselves in God’s Word.
There are many reading plans out there which enable people to read through the Bible in this way, so that the whole Bible is read throughout a year at least. Word Live is one scheme. Bible Study Tools is a plan to help you keep on track with a yearly reading plan. The 52 Week Reading Plan is useful in giving what I would call a nutritionally balanced reading plan (each week you are encouraged to read from all the different types of Scripture – the Gospels and letters in the New Testament and portions from the Law, the history books, Psalms, poetry and prophecy in the Old Testament.) In this way, you tend to avoid getting bogged down in the genealogies or stuck in the skin diseases of Leviticus, for example, which often tend to put people off and make them wonder how they are being equipped for every good work in those passages! Many churches have a lectionary, which is a list of parts of the Bible to be read outloud at daily services. All such things are useful in the same way that a novice cook can be overwhelmed when shopping in a supermarket: ‘but what do I buy and how do I make a meal from all these ingredients?!’
There is no point being legalistic in our Bible reading and feeling condemned if we miss a day, for example. But just as food never actually is ingested accidentally (we have to be intentional about eating, despite what many of us believe!) and a considerable amount of time and thought has to go into wise eating, so we must be intentional and determined in our reading of the Bible. It will not just happen; we have to make it happen. We actually have to pick up the Book (or phone or tablet or however we read the Word these days!) and read it.
Natural food keeps us alive and, if we are wise about our food choices, does us good. We do not, however, live on bread alone and need every word which comes from the mouth of God. Experience has shown God’s people over the years that spiritual growth will never occur without the ingestion of the Bible. Let’s eat!