The Grip of the Former Image (Law 2)

I woke up this morning in a tent. My son, Zane, and I decided to do a little "possum hunting" - we have had possums in our yard and Zane really wanted to see them. So we pitched the tent in the back yard, put out a plate of apple, and settled back for a night under the stars.

Zane was a little scared, but got off to sleep okay. When I woke at about 6.30am, Zane was still sound asleep. My usual morning routine is to go to the bathroom, let the dog out and then make a coffee to enjoy on the deck as I study the Bible and then read a little before I make breakfast and start work for the day. Today, my routine was shot. I didn't want to wake Zane with the tent zip, and I didn't want him to wake up without me there in case it freaked him out. So I wriggled my toes (did I mention I was busting?!) and waited for him to wake.

As I lay there, I realised that my morning routine was going to be disrupted which meant - UM AH! - I wasn't going to make my Bible reading time! But then as I reflected on that I thought, "From where does this 'read the Bible every day' rule come from? From God? Or from me?"

This was the "Golden Calf" being kicked. In my image, God is happy when I read my Bible religiously every morning. In His own image, God is happy when I am with my son, enjoying time together with him, and loving him by considering his emotional state.

I'm not against Bible reading. But ask yourself why you read the Bible. Or even memorise it. The only place I can see that even remotely suggests that memorizing scripture is good is in Psalms (Ps 119:11). And that's not even about memorizing it but knowing it. My daughter and son go to a Christian school where one of the weekly tests is memory verses. Some weeks they have memorized the verse, but if I ask them what it means, often they say, "I don't know". There's a big difference between knowing a verse of scripture and knowing what it means to live it. Anyone can rattle of a verse, but it is no measure of where you're at with God.

So what about you? What areas of your life have you elevated something, even something good and helpful to our Christian walk, to a Golden Calf like state?