Happy New Year
Posted by Mark on 03 Jan 2010 at 11:40 am | Tagged as: Uncategorized
This year I am experimenting with a thought I learned from a couple of different sources. It is an idea that goes back to monastic traditions. Ooohh..that sounds scary. But it really isn’t. Each monastic movement had a “rule” that governed the pattern of their corporate life. It was a set of principles that guided them in how they worshiped, worked and lived in community. From this, we can adopt the idea of constructing our own “rule” of life. Now if that sounds legalistic, consider this. Whether you have chosen to construct a “rule”, or simply just lived life with little thought about the pattern you were constructing for yourself…you still end up with a “rule”. You do certain things pretty regularly. (I have never encountered anyone who thought it was legalistic to practice eating three times a day.) The question to consider is whether the rule you have, chosen or otherwise, places you before God in a way that He can change you. If our normal regular patterns never bring us to the Scriptures, or to prayer, then how can we ever expect the work that only the Holy Spirit can do in us to take place.
So this year in church I am going to be talking about what our “rule” is. But the analogy is better considered as a trellis. A grape vine grows best when there is some structure to support its growth. A “rule” or pattern for life is simply a trellis for our branch to grow on as we are connected to the vine. (John 15:5) It isn’t the vine. It has no life in and of itself. But it supports the growth the vine creates.
To get us started with this process, I am asking you to do this simple assignment for this week, observe your life. Try to write out the “rules” or “trellis” you are living by now. Check back on Tuesday, (January 5th) for some specific questions to ask yourself about your current ” trellis” or “rule of life”. Feel free to leave some comments here on the blog. As you make some observations…share them. Send me an e-mail about what you are learning about yourself from considering your own “rules”. I would love to have some people share some thoughts next Sunday as we each develop our own “rule” or “trellis”.
on 04 Jan 2010 at 9:33 am 1.Clifton Griffin said …
Thanks for posting this, Mark.
I look forward to the continuing discussion.
on 06 Jan 2010 at 9:52 am 2.Jeanne Szymanski said …
I love to be challenged in my walk and I think you for bringing truthto the front. As I was writing some of my rules, I realized one of the rules I have, though not intentional, is wasting time. This is one I wish to change ASAP. I need some guidence on how to study the bible. I read the bible and read other books that pertain to the bible and living, but have not gotten into a studyon my own and I wish to. Any tips? That would fill in some of the wasted time. Again, thanks!
on 06 Jan 2010 at 10:16 am 3.Mark said …
A great way to study the Bible is to go verse by verse through a chapter and do these four things with each verse.
Observations: Write out the specific ideas in the verse. Try to restate what is there with out any interpretation.
Questions: Ask questions of the verse? What does this word mean? What is the context for this statement, etc.
Correlation: Cross reference this verse with other verses that have the same words or phrases.
Application: What should I do with the content of this verse. Is there something I need to start doing? ..stop doing? …seek to learn more about?
You may not have much to write about each of these four concepts from every verse, but approaching each verse this way will slow you down to giving each sentence some serious thought. A great resource for this is Studylight.org That website has lots of dictionaries and commentaries that you can consult after you think about each verse. Hope this helps