Well, Saturday was the third day of Lent and my goal to read a book of the Bible each day fell short. Sure, I could blame it on having a house full of kids, errands to run, and spending a good deal of the day trying to figure out what was wrong with my sermon for Sunday morning. The truth of the matter is, I just never said, "OK, I need some time to go and read." Even if Saturday was busy, I could have found a few minutes to read Jude or Philemon. I mean really, how long do those take to read. Never the less, I never made it.
So, even though traditionally Sunday does not count in the 40 days of Lent, I read a book on Sunday. Even here, I cheated myself. I chose to read the book of Ruth. Now Ruth is a great book to read with its story of God's providence, love, and redemption but I was reading it in an attempt to kill two birds with one stone. You see, I was reading it because I wanted to keep to my Lent commitment and I read Ruth because it was my text for my Sunday evening sermon. Now, you might recall, that one of the reasons for reading a book each day for Lent is because I had fallen into that rut that many preachers fall into in which every time they are reading Scripture it is for the purpose of preparing another sermon. Well, here I was reading to further solidify my sermon.
The lesson here is that even as one practices a discipline of the faith there will be times that you really learn and grow. There will be times that you experience an intimacy with the Lord unlike you have ever experienced. Then there will also be times where it feels as though all that you have done is checked something off your to do list. The important thing is to learn from even the so called "lesser" moments (which in the end may be your best learning moments) and to perpetually be moving toward God.
I wonder what today's reading will reveal?
No comments:
Post a Comment