A Healthy Diet

“This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”

John 6:58 ESV

Our missionary to Papua New Guinea recently sent me this e-mail which posed the following question. “Yesterday, one of the Madak (their tribe) believers called us with a question.  She asked about a believer not reading God’s Word.  Does a Christian really need to spend time reading God’s Word, if they already believe that it is true? The missionary requested some answers that would help this follower of Christ.” The following was my reply.              

“Does a child need to go to school since it already has life? No, but it will live in ignorance if it doesn't. In that case, the child will squander the precious gift of a brain and fail to appreciate the wonder of the world in which they live. The child will be forever less than it could have developed and grown into as a mature man or woman.

It is the nature of a child to be curious about the world in which they live and the desire to understand the Life of Christ within is evidence of true conversion. Salvation is more than the forgiveness of sins; it is deliverance from the power of sin that comes about as we understand what Christ has done for us in the cross. Jesus has forgiven us from what we have done, but he has also freed us from who we were before we came to him. (Romans 6:1) The only way we discover these precious truths, and begin to live in them, is to study our Bibles. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. (Romans 10:17) Only those who know can grow!”

I certainly hope that answer helped a sister in Christ halfway around the world. I would like to further our thoughts on that vein by giving a warning of those who jump to the opposite extreme. It is possible to attempt to live the Christian life simply by memorizing verses; by studying the Bible until our eyes pop out of our head, believing that to do so is the path of growth. On one occasion when Jesus was speaking to the Pharisees, he uttered this accusation against them. “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me.” (John 5:39)

The written words on the pages of the Bible were never meant to be worshipped or that we might trust in them to give us life. We cannot live by precept upon precept, for this is to live out of a law that can never give life. The Scriptures were always meant as a springboard to launch us into the presence of the living word of God, Jesus. “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.” (John 6:63) There is never a time that the Christian does not need to read his Bible. God’s word provides guidance and encouragement. However, never forget that when we set our Bible down it is the Living Word that gives us life. It is the presence of Jesus, within each moment, that we must rest in.