Two weeks ago, in part 1 of True Faith, we established that we tend to put boundaries around our faith, meaning that we’re glad to “follow” God as long as we can enjoy certain comforts and avoid certain difficulties. Then, last week in Part 2, we discussed Paul’s teaching in Romans 10:17 that faith comes from hearing and reading scripture. As part of last week’s lesson, we touched on the importance of taking time to reflect on scripture, which brings us to today’s verse from Colossians 3:16 which says,
“Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom He gives.”
If you’ve ever lived through a prolonged drought, you may remember that most of the limited rain that fell during this period ran off the dry soil instead of sinking in. It takes prolonged periods of rain for the soil to soften up and allow the moisture to sink deeply.
In the same way, we need prolonged exposure to scripture for it to sink in and nourish the roots of our faith. This reflection time is the best way to receive genuine revelations about God’s path for us and how He is working in our life.
But consistently scheduling in even 15 minutes for reflection often seems like a challenge. We wake up running, jump in the shower, grab some coffee, drop the kids off, get our workday started, and go hard until we get home. Then we’re so stressed from the day that it’s all we can do to be present at kid’s activities and dinner with the family. We barely have time for an hour or two of Netflix 😊before we try to get to bed at a decent time.
But there is good news – God’s got this. He’ll bless the time you spend on scripture and multiply it. So, you really get a Faith BOGO (buy-one-get-one). Not only will we get the faith-enhancing benefit of reflecting on scripture, but our faith will be further enhanced by trusting God enough to cheerfully carve out this time.
If you are ready to give it a try, there is no wrong way to get started. But, to help keep your mind from wandering, you might pick a quiet place and start with a plan – any plan. Maybe it’s meditating on one verse or a short passage. Or maybe you want to read a longer passage and just observe where the Holy Spirit draws your attention. As with meditation, it might be clunky at first, but will become increasingly comfortable over time.
Here are a few questions about today’s topic:
- After we’ve talked through it for the past couple of weeks, how important do you think it is to make time reflect on scripture instead of just reading/hearing it quickly?
- Do you find it difficult to carve out time for God because of your busy schedule?
- Do you agree that God can multiply the time you set apart for Him? If so, what are some of the ways He can do that?
- The word “cheerful” is used above in relation to our mindset going into scriptural reflection. Do you think it makes a difference to God how enthusiastically we approach the time we give Him?
- Two weeks ago, one of our questions was “why do you think faith is so important to God?”. After two more discussion about faith, do you have any additional thoughts on this question?
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