Saturday, August 18, 2007

Joy is the spin-off of Bible exploring*

...the Christian tastes God in all his pleasures, and this increases them, whereas for other men pleasure brings with it a sense of hollowness which reduces it. Also, I maintain that every encounter between the sincere Christian and God’s Word, the law of thy mouth (Psalm 119:72), however harrowing or humbling its import, brings joy as its spin-off... --JI Packer

*the word explore takes us further into the way we should relate to Scripture than the familiar words read and study do. Exploring is not, of course, less than reading and studying, but it is more. You can read books mechanically, without interest, and study facts mechanically, without focus, but exploring territory is a process of search, thought and correlation that demands both interest and focus. Exploring Scripture is more than a routine for gathering data. It has to do with memorization, meditation and interrogation. In exploring you poke and dig and ask questions and make and test guesses and try to see how everything ties in with everything else. Exploration is exciting! --JI Packer

(FYI: This little book by Packer--TRUTH & POWER-- that has sat on my shelf for years has turned out to be absolutely golden in providing excellent thoughts on the role of Scripture in the life of a Christ-follower)

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