Roots: Habits for fruitfulness 3:
Study and meditation

Holy Trinity Church Huddersfield, Sunday 3 February 2019

A cold but dry morning, typical of early February as we set off for church in a subdued mood as this was the Sunday following the funeral of Betty, my Mother-in-law, last week. The flowers that had been on her coffin were now on the church’s altar.

It was good that the opening worship was lively as I needed the focus to be away from myself and towards God. Worship helps put things into context.

The sermon: Curate Steve asked us to take a Bible in our hands. “What you are holding,” he said, “is more valuable than diamonds, more valuable than all the riches in the world.” We had read earlier from 2 Timothy chapter 3. God’s word is effective because  God has breathed them Not some scripture, all of it. God has breathed all of it, including the bits we do not like and the bits we disagree with. All of scripture is God-breathed.

It is about what we do: The Bible is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness for the reason that followers of God may be may be competent, equipped for every good work. It is about inner transformation, not doctrinal purity.

The idea of reading the Bible is not for us to get through the Bible, but to get the Bible through us; as we read the Bible reads us and transforms us. It is a slow process and takes time.