Trees and Chaff

On Sunday night after services I went to a Bible study that was led by a friend of mine.  It was about the analogy in James 1:23-25 comparing the word of God to a mirror.  He concluded by talking about how we always manage to find time for leisure activities and hobbies, but we somehow find ourselves too busy to devote time to the study of God’s word.

I’ve been doing a lot of reading in the psalms this semester.  There’s a few of them that have jumped out at me as having some particularly applicable messages.  One of those is Psalm 1.  Psalm 1 is interesting.  It is a stark contrast of the wicked and the righteous.  The psalmist starts by saying “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful.”  I have often noticed the progression of that opening: how sin is progressive.  First you walk and talk with sinners, then you stop to check them out, and before you know it you are sitting among them as one of their own.  There’s more to this psalm though.  If you only know what not to do, righteousness can escape you.  This psalm tells what to do: “but his delight is in the law of Yahweh, and on His law he meditates day and night.” 

We put a lot of focus on not sinning.  We look at the world and the things that people do and we say that we must resist those temptations.  This is very true.  We definitely should.  Unfortunately, though, we often neglect to mention how we should go about doing that.  Ephesians 6:10-18 compares our lives as Christians to warfare.  In listing the armor of God, the only weapon that is offensive is the sword of the spirit – the word of God!  In Matthew 4, Jesus used scripture to combat Satan’s attacks.  Given the fact that Jesus was the only person ever to resist temptation every single time without fail, I think it’s safe to say that his strategy is the one we should employ. 

All of this is pretty easy to agree to.  It’s another thing to implement it.  That’s what you tell yourself, isn’t it?  I’m going to suggest something else.  It’s easy to implement.  We just don’t do it.  How hard is it to not play video games for a half hour so that you can read your Bible?  Not read a book for a half hour?  Not watch Netflix for a half hour?  Not hang out with your boyfriend of girlfriend for a half hour?  Get the picture?  The truth is, it is not that hard to pick up the Bible and read it for a little bit every day.  The problem is we don’t do it. 

Why don’t we do it?  I’m going to venture to say that we are self-focused.  It’s true that many of us are busy people.  I’m not denying that.  But ask yourself this: in all of your busyness, is there at least one television show that you keep up with (if it is on Netflix, it still counts)?  Is there a book series that you are reading right now? 

Let’s think about the way that we use our time.  Because if we’re going to be, as Psalm 1 says “a tree planted by streams of water” and not “chaff which the wind blows away,” we’re going to have to spend time in the word.