I count it a blessing to be able to attend a church where the pastor preaches and teaches the word of God passionately and without apology. When I leave church on Sunday mornings I take great satisfaction in being encouraged as well as convicted and inspired to grow and learn more….to change and grow closer to the Lord. It is so disheartening when the gospel message is watered down and the sermon sounds more like a self improvement or positive thinking course. My husband and I are grateful when we are able to discuss the sermons and then freely question the pastor on those that we feel confused about. We feel fortunate because clarification or infomation can mean the difference between growth or stagnation for us. We’ve never attended a church before where the pastor encouraged questions from his congregation and made himself available…simply by being approachable most of the time. This past week the sermon challenged me to think about the word of God differently. This particular sermon was not one to easily forget, so I wanted to write about it.
Since I became a Christian I’ve always believed that the Bible was the word of God and that we should read it daily. For some reason though, I’ve felt like this was something I was doing “for God” or in order to please God. It became something to put on a to-do list….it became legalistic. If I did not read it I felt guilty and asked God to forgive me. Yet, the reading of God’s word is not for Him at all. Reading God’s word is for my benefit….if I skip on this I am skipping my vitamins, my water, my protein, my milk and my meat. I’m missing my sweets like delicious honey and my carbohydrates or starches….I’m missing my bread for the day.
