Sunday, August 23, 2009

FEASTING ON GOD'S WORD

8/23/09
Virginia Wolf once said, One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well. Most Americans, especially now that we have the “food channel,” would buy into this notion hook, line and sinker. But there is another food that helps us think well, love well, and sleep well. There is a feast awaiting us. The morsels provided are fodder for the soul. This fare that is more nourishing and without all those empty calories is found in God’s Word.

If I had a Twitter account, yesterday my “tweet” would have read, “Gone to Kroger for a Watermelon---and many know why. My plan for the day was to feed my soul on John 15 and my body on watermelon. I did both and how SWEET it was! “How sweet are Thy words to my taste! Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth.” (Psalm 119: 103)

1”I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.2Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.” (John 15:1-3)

I learned that the word prune in verse 2 and clean in verse 3 come from the same GK root word, KATHAROS. There is indeed a cleansing that comes when we are washed (THOT--purged of ungodliness?) by The Word and thus able to bear fruit.

I also learned from some of my marginalia that we are chosen, blessed and broken for the nourishment of the world. But how can we nourish others if we have not been feeding on His Word ourselves?

Now that you’ve dined on this, I hope you sleep well. Goodnight!