biblical literacy | Kona Brown

SATURATED, INTIMIDATED,UNDERESTIMATED

Apr 16, 2021 | Bible, Christianity, Church, Discipleship, Faith, God

Why we don’t prioritize time with God and what we can do about it.

I detest blogs that sound like they want to inform me about something that would be to my benefit, but then all they do is make me feel guilty… like I fall short in some way…make me feel like there is yet another thing that I should be doing that I’m just not getting to. That’s why I often avoid parenting books (don’t we already have enough mommy guilt!) and why the one I wrote was written specifically NOT to make you feel that way because the minute you become a parent, you become instantly and regularly familiar with all the ways you fall short, am I right? So let me assure you, this blog is not like that.

Friends share the good news, the great recipes, the tidbit about that child-friendly restaurant or that cheap travel deal, right? When you care about someone you want to be generous with the very best information. And that is why I wrote this blog. Not because I want to add something to your list that you already know you should be doing (you know, like finally cleaning out the garage) but just can’t get to, but because spending time in God’s word is one of the most fascinating, nourishing and deeply impactful activities I’ve ever engaged in, and I want that for you!

Here are some of the reasons why we don’t spend time with God:

We are Saturated

I have 2 teenage boys in my house. They are never not hungry! When you are a mom of boys you are only ever busy with 3 things: Making meals, planning meals or shopping for meals. Ask anyone! My boys approach the dinner table with enthusiasm, because they are, in their words, “starving”. One of the reasons we do not prioritize time in God’s word is because we are not starving. We are saturated. We have many teachers regurgitating for us pre-digested morsels. A verse of the day here, a pretty Instagram quote there, a page a day devotional or a 15 minute podcast while driving. What we are choosing to consume takes very little effort from our side, but also little discernment. Kind of like eating processed foods instead of a from-scratch-made-with-love meal. You would not try keep yourself or your family saturated on processed fast foods indefinitely. But many of us keep going on that kind of spirit diet. And when you are full of candy floss and cupcakes, do you know what you don’t feel like eating? Real food. And that works fine, until things get hectic. Until a trial, a race, a war erupts in our lives.

We have forgotten that we are in a race so we don’t eat like athletes. We have forgotten that we are in a war so we don’t fill up or dress up like soldiers.

And then, when it comes time for perseverance, when it comes time for testing of our faith, mostly through suffering and trial, but also through temptation, that the bible warns us is an inevitability, our tanks are empty, we’ve long ago used up the low GI fuel supplied to us by our light crudité style snacking or devotionals and youtube videos.

Jesus wants to be our sustenance in the time of uncertainty, trial and difficulty.

He says that in John 6 v 35. He himself was in the wilderness and what saturated and sustained Him is the thing that will also saturate and sustaine us. God’s word (Matt 4 v 4). God doesn’t want to give us certainty instead of our uncertainty, he wants to give us a more certain grip on him. And He does that faithfully when we prioritise His word.

The Christian life thrives with the bible, just like the body thrives with good nourishment, exercise and hydration. Jesus said I am the bread of life, He said “come to me for living water”, so when we come to the word of God we are attending to the health of our soul and our spirit, we are feeding and saturating our greatest and truest hunger.

We are Intimidated

I often hear people say that they wish to hear from God. That they hope to know His will. Then I always ask them what they read that morning. Because to this day, the primary way God speaks is through His Word. And you don’t need a theology degree to hear Him. Jesus himself said that His revelation is more often hidden from the wise and revealed to the childlike and simple (Matt 11 v 15). We read a lot of things every day, but for some reason when we come to God’s word our expectation of ourselves is usually too high and our expectation of God is usually too low. He promises us in His word when we draw near to Him He will draw near to us (James 4 v 8). James also tells us that when we ask for wisdom He will give it to us without reviling us (James 1 v 5 – 6) if we ask in faith. Faith is asking knowing that God wants to give us wisdom, not asking hoping that He will but fearing that maybe, just maybe, He doesn’t really want to or He won’t, which is often the intimidating attitude with which we come to the word of God. Is it any wonder we treat God’s word as something we have to “fit in”? We treat it like a chore because we think we have to work on it, we do not come with the expectation that it will work on us, which is what the Word was made to do! God himself watches over it to ensure that it will accomplish what He pleases (Is 55 v 11). You don’t have to worry about that. But what you do have to worry about is what kind of expectation you have as you approach your time in God’s word.

Often our problem is that we have forgotten that reading God’s word is an act of love not an action on a to do list, that our time with God is a relationship to build not a box to tick, that it is the daily momentum we need to move towards meaning and maturity.

We have underestimated our true state

When I feel lukewarm towards spending time with God, I always remind myself of the story in Luke 7 of the sinful woman who came to kiss Jesus’ feet and anointed Him with oil. And Jesus said “those who have been forgiven much love much”. The reason we don’t prioritise time with God is because we have underestimated our deep need. That, our deep need, much more than an obligation or a “should”, must be our “reason why”. Our love wanes and our devotion lapses because we lose sight of who we really are and what we really need. We are so distracted and entertained that we forget about our own spiritual state. We are so saturated with candy floss Christianity that we have underestimated how much we need God’s grace, God’s involvement, God’s direction in our daily lives. When we become disconnected and distracted from the essence of the gospel in our lives we quickly and easily start underestimating our need for God, because the gospel remains compelling only to someone aware of the truth of their spiritual state.

Many of us live lukewarm lives, no different from the world around us because we do not consistently connect ourselves with the transformative and victorious, which is only found in God’s Word. And just like time in God’s word will manifest as faith, joy, hope, growth, maturity, direction, focus and blessing in our lives, so lack of time in God’s word will also manifest in different ways:

Persistent struggles with fear, worry and anxiety, and having your inner peace and joy dependent on your circumstances;
Not being able to discern the truth and being ensnared by deceptive teaching and heresy which places you outside of the will of God and the blessings of righteousness;
Lack of direction, which not only has personal consequences, but it also means you are ill-equipped to equip your children for a hard and difficult world;
Lack of fruit and thriving;
Lack of victory over areas of stubborn sin;
Lack of meaning, leading us to idolatry as we try to create meaning for ourselves;
Defenseless against spiritual attacks without the Sword of the Word;
An inability to respond when people question your faith, which diminishes your witness and influence for the Kingdom.

These are just some of what we suffer when our lives are devoid of connection with God via His word and prayer. If your faith feels powerless and empty, consider how you view the Bible, which is your primary exposure to the truth

GK Chesterton said “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and left untried.” And it’s true. I think we live in a time where we have thought because we have Bibles and we say we love them we have truly seen what the Word can do in people, in us. But I don’t think we have.

The Bible only becomes a sword when we become it’s soldiers. The Bible only becomes a kiln when we become it’s clay, the Word only becomes our standard when we become it’s students.

If this is something you desire for yourself, for your family and for your life, why not sign up for my 5 day Biblestudy Course, called DWELL, aimed at equipping you with the basic steps and tools to truly engage with the Word of God. Sign up here – it’s free!

The Most Valuable Thing We Can Do With Our Kids During Lockdown…

Apr 6, 2020 | Uncategorized | 1 comment

I saw a post from an acquaintance recently showing the great lengths they are going to at home to ensure that their kids will be ready for school and for the next sport season once kids are allowed to return to school. They are definitely #winningatlife. And at parenting. Obviously. No one can fault that it would be wise for us as parents to – at a minimum – encourage our kids towards their sports and academic goals, regardless of how far removed that might feel from our current situation. Although the mom who posted this doesn’t know when and if lockdown will be lifted, she was creating conditions of readiness in her kids. She was looking into the future. But as I was (trying hopelessly) to busy myself with the same thing – you know, bar a million interruptions for snacks! – I couldn’t help but wonder, how far into the future? Are we looking far enough? We are all always as parents diligently trying to invest in our kids and their future, but are we investing the right things, and are we looking far enough into the future?

Yes, we can and should have the earthly wisdom to prepare our kids for the world, for thriving school careers and later, for thriving adulthood. But does that wisdom stand the test of time, no, eternity? Because I can do all the crafts, and install an astroturf in my garden, and do all the Kumon and all the coding-for-kids, but in light of eternity, would those investments have been wise…or foolish? Certainly, they would have been foolish if I neglected the most important things. Because what good would that do if my kids don’t know the difference between being forgiven and not being forgiven. If they, in our homes, never had the opportunity to come to a saving knowledge of who God is and what He says about them, how much He loves them and what He did because of that love, and how that changes literally everything?

I want to challenge all of us today that the most valuable thing we can do for our kids during lockdown is not online lessons and hockey drills, and trying to map out a 3km route around our garden for them to run. It’s the thing most of us are neglecting, because it takes time, because we might be slightly intimidated by the idea, and because it’s immediate value is not as apparent as the immediate value of every available privilege and opportunity we are trying to pour into the lives of our kids. But, in the end, it’s the only thing – in partnership with the work of the Holy Spirit – that can produce a harvest in them that will stand the test of all of time. We can easily start that investment today, by simply reading the bible with our kids and, depending on their age, teaching them to read the bible for themselves.

Because how can anyone be captivated by the love of God outside of the word of God? Nothing our kids see or hear in the world (truthfully nothing that they will even see and hear in and from us!) will give them a true enough picture to understand who God really is. And how will they hear if no one tells them? (Rom 10 v 14)

There are just 3 simple and important things I think we need to remember when having devotions/ reading the Bible with our kids:

Make the Bible accessible – Help them find their way around an actual bible. Ideally, from age 4 or 5, they should have their own one. That way over time it can become a familiar reference to them, not something that is only used at church or by grown ups. God’s word is powerful and in a world full of tools and devotionals and programs we’ve become somewhat disconnected from it. But empowering oud kids to fall in love with God’s word is one of the best gifts we could ever give them. Obviously our kids will not get excited about God’s word if we are not excited about it. Always start with the bible, and only ad resources to ad depth, not remove depth.

Equip kids to study God’s word for themselves: . Just like we need to teach our kids to prepare a physical meal for themselves, we need to teach them how to prepare a spiritual meal for themselves. using simple tools, modelling for them the HOW of time with God. I use a simple method that my mom taught me and devotional time I spend with my kids is basically just me modelling for them how I spend time with God myself.

Teach them to discern what God is saying and how to apply it: we have a saying in our home – Truth is God’s opinion about anything. But our kids are every day, in the books they read, the programs they watch and in the music they listen to, being exposed to alternative versions of truth and world views that are counter to the bible. Can our kids find a deep spiritual life in a shallow world? Not outside of the bible they can’t. Because what counts for us also counts for our kids: You can’t test what’s true if you don’t know what’s true. Without a grounding of truth, you become a slave to every new fad or teaching, and your measure of viability becomes if your teacher put it on the reading list (if you’re a kid) or if it – Lord help us – it made it onto the NYC best seller list or has a “Christian” publisher (if you’re an adult. And yes, I meant to put that in inverted commas!). That is why Jesus said to the Jews, by and large a well read bunch, in John 8 v 31 – 32 – READ YOUR BIBLE if you want to be free of being lead along by deception.

Equip kids to study God’s word for themselves: Just like we need to teach our kids to prepare a physical meal for themselves, we need to teach them how to prepare a spiritual meal for themselves. using simple tools, modelling for them the HOW of time with God. I use a simple method that my mom taught me and devotional time I spend with my kids is basically just me modelling for them how I spend time with God myself.

Teach them to discern what God is saying and how to apply it: we have a saying in our home – Truth is God’s opinion about anything. But our kids are every day, in the books they read, the programs they watch and in the music they listen to, being exposed to alternative versions of truth and world views that are counter to the bible. Can our kids find a deep spiritual life in a shallow world? Not outside of the bible they can’t. Because what counts for us also counts for our kids: You can’t test what’s true if you don’t know what’s true. Without a grounding of truth you become a slave to every new fad or teaching, and your measure of viability becomes if your teacher put it on the reading list (if you’re a kid) or if it – Lord help us – it made it onto the NYC best seller list (if you’re an adult). That is why Jesus said to the jews, a well read bunch, in John 8 v 31 – 32 – READ YOUR BIBLE if you want to be free of being lead along by deception.

For this reason our devotional time needs to be supremely practical and relevant, helping our kids identify challenges in their own lives and how God’s word speaks into that. That way what they learn about God and about themselves will become fuel for their prayers, start to drive their actions and shape their thinking. If you want help in using relevant examples from your kids’ every day challenges to shape biblical thinking in your kids – also maybe get my book, which is all about that.

Then lastly parents, don’t underestimate your kids, or yourselves

Also, take the pressure off. Ultimately God is the one who makes seeds grow. Our call as parents is to faithfulness in actually sowing the seeds. That’s all.