10. Changed By Reading
Dear Jim,
I wouldn’t worry too much about revisiting questions you’ve already asked. Our spiritual growth is not a linear process--some even go so far as to compare it to a spiral. It is natural that as we grow, we revisit issues we faced earlier with new questions and the capacity for a deeper understanding. To this end, I am very happy to speak more about reading for spiritual growth.
Often times, it seems to me that people experience dryness when reading scripture because they view it as a way to learn the do’s and don’ts of our walk with God. While scripture is valuable for teaching us these things, it is a mistake to limit our scripture reading to this application. Scripture has the potential to teach us much, much more. By reading scripture, we get to know God and what he is like, which in turn deepens and establishes our relationship with him. Scripture also has a power to change us; reading it makes us more like Jesus in every way.
There is a way to read the bible for information. This is essential. We need to cognitively understand what it is the bible says. Understanding certain things on a cognitive level can be transformative in itself. There are also ways to read the bible less for information and more for formation. Two practices are common here: Scripture Imagination and Lectio Divina. These practices have been used for centuries.
In Scripture Imagination, we imagine ourselves in the scene we are reading from the Bible. We “compose the place” by noticing as much detail about it in our imagination as we can. We do this with our 5 senses. We ask what we see, hear, smell, feel on our skin and taste in our mouth? We trust that God is guiding our imagination in this. After composing the place, we let the scene play out with us in it. Afterward we look at our experience and what we were thinking, feeling, and experiencing as the scene progressed.
For Lection Divina, a simple approach would be to read the text slowly and prayerfully three times. The first time we read it asking what the text is saying. The second time we read it asking God what he is saying specifically to me through the text. The third time we read it looking at what it stirs up within us, and we take those stirrings to God. Finally we then spend time praying about any action God may be asking us to take as a result of our time in this passage.
One thing I would like to add is that it can be very helpful to read other books on Christian Living. God is still working and speaking through his people, even if he’s not doing it as authoritatively as in scripture. I have found it helpful to read a few pages each day out of a Christian book to start my time with God. This helps me to go slowly with the material, and gives me the chance to take in what the author is saying more deeply. It helps to “warm me up” before reading scripture by getting me into the right mindset.
QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION:
What is your current experience of reading Scripture? Is your approach life giving? Take a few minutes to ask God if he would like you to change your approach.
