A balanced "diet"
A balanced "diet"
Most of us have our "unique" preferences for different things. For some, they may prefer a certain clothing material over another ... for some, they may prefer a certain color of clothing/apparels/footwear, etc ... for some, they may prefer a certain brand of motor vehicles ... for some, they may prefer a certain features in electronic equipment ... and for some, where diet is concerned, they may have preferences over what they eat and where they dine ...
I'm quite a picky eater, not a fussy one though - I'm not too particular about how the dish is cook as long as it taste appetizing and pleasant for my taste buds. I'm picky because there are A LOT of food which I don't eat - bittergourd, seaweeds, century eggs, salted eggs, anything that is intestines or raw, etc (just to name a few) - and my mum has always been complaining that it's not an easy task cooking for me when she has so much "restrictions" about what I don't eat, and she would always complained about what I'm losing out on nutritional value from some of these food ... =P
Relating eating to what I've discovered about the Bible reading reflections which my students' submitted, I felt led to write this post about a balanced "diet". You see, I've noticed that a number of my students did their reflection on either 1 verse ONLY daily for their reflection, or they have a tendencey to "skip" from one book of the Bible to another, instead of being systematic in their reading. When they first began this assignment, my challenge to them is if they can, try to read a chapter in the Bible everyday and do a reflection on it - and do it for 4 months, and on top of that I've also encouraged them to be systematic and complete a particular book before they go on to the next. So far, only a handful (probably less than 5) took up this challenge - not an easy task especially in a world where time is a much sort-after commodity.
Marking all these assignments undoubtedly led me to some concerns about how Christians today are taking in the Word of God ... - is it with a "pick and choose" a-la-carte menu kind of attitude? What most of them would do is to take some verses which they like, read it, and maybe meditate upon it (hopefully, hopefully) and use it as what God is speaking to them for that day, or that season of time. The question is, what if, for some days, there isn't "any verse" that seems fitting for that day? The other question is, are we allowing God to speak to us, or we choose what we want God to say to us with such "pick and choose" attitude? In fact, the danger of such this kind of attitude is that it would definitely lead to a spiritual malnutrition.
Consider this example (or joke) and I believe you will get what I've been trying to express ...
"A man wanted to spend time reading God's Word at the start of a morning. He prayed, "Lord, please show me the verse you have for me for today." Then he opened his Bible and his eyes fell on the passage, Matt 27:5 "Then he (Judas) went away and hanged himself." He told the Lord, "Surely, You are playing a joke on me, this couldn't be what You are saying to me today. Show me another verse, please." He opened his Bible again and his eyes fell on Luke 10:37b, "Go and do likewise." He was horrified and told the Lord again, "This must be a mistake. I'll try again, show me another verse that You have for me for today." The third time he opened his Bible, this was what he saw, John 13:27b ""What you are about to do, do quickly," Jesus told him (Judas).""
St Augustine has this to say, which I thought aptly sums up and speaks to us who has the attitude of "picking and choosing" what we want, or like, to hear from the Lord - "If you believe what you like in the gospels, and reject what you don't like, it is not the gospel you believe, but yourself."
As much as our physical bodies need a balanced diet, our spiritual souls need proper feeding too. The Bible is meant to be daily food for us - every portion of it is necessary. Let us approach the Word of God with joy, with reverance and with delight - and allow the Holy Spirit to enlighten us in Scriptures that seemed difficult to understand or those that are seemingly "dry and boring". Every word in Scripture has a God-intended purpose.
Most of us have our "unique" preferences for different things. For some, they may prefer a certain clothing material over another ... for some, they may prefer a certain color of clothing/apparels/footwear, etc ... for some, they may prefer a certain brand of motor vehicles ... for some, they may prefer a certain features in electronic equipment ... and for some, where diet is concerned, they may have preferences over what they eat and where they dine ...
I'm quite a picky eater, not a fussy one though - I'm not too particular about how the dish is cook as long as it taste appetizing and pleasant for my taste buds. I'm picky because there are A LOT of food which I don't eat - bittergourd, seaweeds, century eggs, salted eggs, anything that is intestines or raw, etc (just to name a few) - and my mum has always been complaining that it's not an easy task cooking for me when she has so much "restrictions" about what I don't eat, and she would always complained about what I'm losing out on nutritional value from some of these food ... =P
Relating eating to what I've discovered about the Bible reading reflections which my students' submitted, I felt led to write this post about a balanced "diet". You see, I've noticed that a number of my students did their reflection on either 1 verse ONLY daily for their reflection, or they have a tendencey to "skip" from one book of the Bible to another, instead of being systematic in their reading. When they first began this assignment, my challenge to them is if they can, try to read a chapter in the Bible everyday and do a reflection on it - and do it for 4 months, and on top of that I've also encouraged them to be systematic and complete a particular book before they go on to the next. So far, only a handful (probably less than 5) took up this challenge - not an easy task especially in a world where time is a much sort-after commodity.
Marking all these assignments undoubtedly led me to some concerns about how Christians today are taking in the Word of God ... - is it with a "pick and choose" a-la-carte menu kind of attitude? What most of them would do is to take some verses which they like, read it, and maybe meditate upon it (hopefully, hopefully) and use it as what God is speaking to them for that day, or that season of time. The question is, what if, for some days, there isn't "any verse" that seems fitting for that day? The other question is, are we allowing God to speak to us, or we choose what we want God to say to us with such "pick and choose" attitude? In fact, the danger of such this kind of attitude is that it would definitely lead to a spiritual malnutrition.
Consider this example (or joke) and I believe you will get what I've been trying to express ...
"A man wanted to spend time reading God's Word at the start of a morning. He prayed, "Lord, please show me the verse you have for me for today." Then he opened his Bible and his eyes fell on the passage, Matt 27:5 "Then he (Judas) went away and hanged himself." He told the Lord, "Surely, You are playing a joke on me, this couldn't be what You are saying to me today. Show me another verse, please." He opened his Bible again and his eyes fell on Luke 10:37b, "Go and do likewise." He was horrified and told the Lord again, "This must be a mistake. I'll try again, show me another verse that You have for me for today." The third time he opened his Bible, this was what he saw, John 13:27b ""What you are about to do, do quickly," Jesus told him (Judas).""
St Augustine has this to say, which I thought aptly sums up and speaks to us who has the attitude of "picking and choosing" what we want, or like, to hear from the Lord - "If you believe what you like in the gospels, and reject what you don't like, it is not the gospel you believe, but yourself."
As much as our physical bodies need a balanced diet, our spiritual souls need proper feeding too. The Bible is meant to be daily food for us - every portion of it is necessary. Let us approach the Word of God with joy, with reverance and with delight - and allow the Holy Spirit to enlighten us in Scriptures that seemed difficult to understand or those that are seemingly "dry and boring". Every word in Scripture has a God-intended purpose.
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