Religion has been a corporate enterprise for some time now. I am reminded of Jesus and the money changers in the gospels, and how the Son of man was righteously angry that they had made His father's temple a den of thieves. A good question to ask in the current time, is how would Jesus respond to the corporatization of religion. If you attend church on a regular basis you get a feel that people just want to get in and get out ( of church that is.) They get their fill of God, like he was on a buffet menu, and as soon as they are done they walk out like they just dinned on the Devine. There is even the language of this consumerism culture about the word of God as "food" like in "does your church feed you well." I know Jesus talked about being the bread of Life, and His word being food, but I don't think that he meant it in the way that we are not to live off bread alone, but every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Let me quote this verse; (Matthew 4:4 NIV )Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God."
What I believe Jesus meant by this verse, is not that we should eat the bible or it's words, but He is the bread of Life and we should draw our daily sustenance from our relationship with him. We cannot be in communion with the Lord if we are not saved, so treating the bible like a menu at a fast food restaurant, or treating the mass like a drive through, was not the point that God was making in saying that we should live off his word. He was not saying that we should stop taking our meals, and he definitely was trying to make the bible the central focus of our worship. The words in the bible speak of Jesus, the story of the Jews, God's deliverance of His people, the eternal covenant that God has with His saints, and the judgement to come. When we fail to see that God wants us as his people to live like the bible actually means something, we miss the point of all His words, which we are not just called to imitate but to live out from a new heart and a new character. If we refuse this challenge, and hold on to the bible like a Big Mac, we fail to 'get' the messages that are found in the word of God and we become filled with knowledge, not sanctification.
We currently live in a world where even our religion is treated like something we need to survive like water and air, when in fact religion wasn't created this way. God opened up the new covenant so that sins would be forgiven. Have we forgotten this? The whole point of Jesus was to forgive sins, but the forgiveness of sins has become a menu item at our churches, take it on the side with bacon please! This is close to blaspheming the whole point as to why Jesus died for us. We want our fries, and we want them now! Surely the God of the bible has more patience than we do. But we are a go and get it society, if you are not working hard, you are missing your purpose, and this has spilled into serving the Lord. If we miss the meaning of why Jesus came, we will miss the purpose of the bible itself. It is not something to be consumed, but something to hollowed. It makes me sad, that the goal of holiness has been replaced with the goal of discipleship, This says that we are not ready to move into a greater relationship with the God we love after we die. If all we are focused on is what the bible says, we will fail to live it out and by failing to live it out we will miss heaven and end up condemned.
I really don't think that it is a matter of changing our focus, it's a matter of changing our heart. When we think of all the clutter that is in our heats and minds, it's kind of like my computer right now, there is a limited amount of space and I don't know where or when to start deleting things. My mind becomes like a hoarder, I'll take any idea untill all my data is used up which inevitably leaves me feeling empty and hungry, like I have to buy a new hard drive to store all the junk that I have accumulated and wanted or should get rid of. Wouldn't it be nice, if we could clear our hard drive and also keep all of the important documents and photos, instead of buying a new computer? Or taking it to a technician at Best Buy where we bought it, and asking them to created more space? We want things to be easy, and because they are not we don't know what to do with the clutter in our souls. This is Mike.
What I believe Jesus meant by this verse, is not that we should eat the bible or it's words, but He is the bread of Life and we should draw our daily sustenance from our relationship with him. We cannot be in communion with the Lord if we are not saved, so treating the bible like a menu at a fast food restaurant, or treating the mass like a drive through, was not the point that God was making in saying that we should live off his word. He was not saying that we should stop taking our meals, and he definitely was trying to make the bible the central focus of our worship. The words in the bible speak of Jesus, the story of the Jews, God's deliverance of His people, the eternal covenant that God has with His saints, and the judgement to come. When we fail to see that God wants us as his people to live like the bible actually means something, we miss the point of all His words, which we are not just called to imitate but to live out from a new heart and a new character. If we refuse this challenge, and hold on to the bible like a Big Mac, we fail to 'get' the messages that are found in the word of God and we become filled with knowledge, not sanctification.
We currently live in a world where even our religion is treated like something we need to survive like water and air, when in fact religion wasn't created this way. God opened up the new covenant so that sins would be forgiven. Have we forgotten this? The whole point of Jesus was to forgive sins, but the forgiveness of sins has become a menu item at our churches, take it on the side with bacon please! This is close to blaspheming the whole point as to why Jesus died for us. We want our fries, and we want them now! Surely the God of the bible has more patience than we do. But we are a go and get it society, if you are not working hard, you are missing your purpose, and this has spilled into serving the Lord. If we miss the meaning of why Jesus came, we will miss the purpose of the bible itself. It is not something to be consumed, but something to hollowed. It makes me sad, that the goal of holiness has been replaced with the goal of discipleship, This says that we are not ready to move into a greater relationship with the God we love after we die. If all we are focused on is what the bible says, we will fail to live it out and by failing to live it out we will miss heaven and end up condemned.
I really don't think that it is a matter of changing our focus, it's a matter of changing our heart. When we think of all the clutter that is in our heats and minds, it's kind of like my computer right now, there is a limited amount of space and I don't know where or when to start deleting things. My mind becomes like a hoarder, I'll take any idea untill all my data is used up which inevitably leaves me feeling empty and hungry, like I have to buy a new hard drive to store all the junk that I have accumulated and wanted or should get rid of. Wouldn't it be nice, if we could clear our hard drive and also keep all of the important documents and photos, instead of buying a new computer? Or taking it to a technician at Best Buy where we bought it, and asking them to created more space? We want things to be easy, and because they are not we don't know what to do with the clutter in our souls. This is Mike.
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