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ReVision

Disciplines of the Word

Feed well, and often.

Spiritual Disciplines (3)

But He knows the way that I take;
When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.
My foot has held fast to His steps;
I have kept His way and not turned aside.
I have not departed from the commandment of His lips;
I have treasured the words of His mouth
More than my necessary
food. Job 23.10-12

Food for the soul
In his wonderful poem, “On A Theme from Nicholas of Cusa,” C. S. Lewis makes brilliant use of the metaphor of eating as a way of thinking about nourishing our souls. Here’s the poem:

When soul and body feed, one sees
Their differing physiologies.
Firmness of apple, fluted shape
Of celery, or tight-skinned grape
I grind and mangle when I eat,
Then in dark, salt, internal heat,
Annihilate their natures by
The very act that makes them I.

But when the soul partakes of good
Or truth, which are her savoury food,
By some far subtler chemistry
It is not they that change, but she,
Who feels them enter with the state
Of conquerors her opened gate,
Or, mirror-like, digests their ray
By turning luminous as they.

Did you hear all those smacking and eating sounds in the first stanza? Then the smooth, spirant sounds of the second? Lewis is saying that feeding the soul is like feeding the body, except that, when the body eats, the food of which it partakes becomes the body. When the soul eats “of good/Or truth” then the soul itself is transformed by strong spiritual action, like conquerors or laser beams, into the form of the nourishment of which she partakes.

This is an excellent way of thinking about the nurture of our souls on the Word of truth. Job evidently thought this way, as did Jeremiah, Paul, the writer of Hebrews, the Apostle John, and Christian thinkers and theologians throughout the ages. The Word of God is the staple of our spiritual diet, the “savoury food” of which our “soul partakes” in order that our souls, in all their parts, might “turn luminous” as that on which they feed.

The power of the Word
The Bible is the Word of God, that powerful, glory-filled, transformative weapon of righteousness by which God shapes our souls into the image of Jesus Christ. The more we partake of His Word, reading and studying and meditating to find Christ and His redemption throughout, the more our souls will “turn luminous” and light-filled to refract the glory of Christ into our everyday lives.

There is no substitute for reading the Word of God. It must be a daily priority. We can find great delight and much benefit if we will devote extended and concentrated time to the Scriptures. And we must never forsake this discipline, lest our starving souls turn to the junk food of this world, and end up sick unto death.

Some guidelines
Here are a few guidelines by which you can check your present use of the Word of God:

First, feed daily. Never let a day go by, if you can help it, in which you do not spend time reading and meditating in the Word of God.

Then, feed on the whole menu. Don’t let yourself get stuck on the “easy” or familiar parts of Scripture. All Scripture is profitable for us, Paul insisted (2 Tim. 3.16, 17), and so we need to cultivate our taste to feed on and delight in the full banquet of God’s Word.

Third, follow a schedule for getting through the whole Bible regularly. It might take two years or so to do it, but set one up and plow ahead through it day after day. Then, when you’ve finished reading the whole Bible, start the regimen all over again.

Fourth, make notes as you read. Making notes will slow down your reading, lead you to think through God’s message for you, and help your observations and impressions to “stick” in your mind.

Fifth, pray the Word back to God each day. What you read each day, bring onto the foundation of prayer. Carry it with you into the spring board of prayer, and make it a touch point in the message Christ is sending you, in the envelope of prayer, to be for that day.

Finally, talk with others about the Word. You will grow and so will your Christian friends if you’ll make conversation about the Word a regular part of your time together. And talking with your non-Christian friends about the Word doesn’t have to sound like preaching. Let them see your love for God and His Word as you share freely, honestly, and naturally about the good food you’re finding each day in the Bible.

When the Word of God is more important to us than the food that sustains our bodies, we’ll know the strength of mind, heart, and conscience which can sustain us, even in times of weakness or trial, and prepare us for every good work, no matter the situation before us.

Next steps: Can you think of one thing you might do to improve your time in the discipline of the Word? Ask a Christian friend to help you review your time in the Word and to think through an answer to this question.

T. M. Moore

This week’s study, Spiritual Disciplines, is part 3 of a 7-part series on The Disciplined Life, and is available as a free download by clicking here. We have prepared a special worksheet to help you begin getting your disciplines in proper shape for seeking the Kingdom. Write to T. M. at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for you free PDF of the “Disciplined Life Worksheet.”

A rightly-disciplined life requires a Kingdom vision, and that vision is centered on Jesus Christ exalted. T. M. has prepared a series of meditations on the glorious vision of Christ, based on Scripture and insights from the Celtic Christian tradition. Order your copy of Be Thou My Vision by clicking here.

Sign up for ViewPoint Leaders Training, free and online, and start your own ViewPoint discussion group.

Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

T.M. Moore

T. M. Moore is principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He and his wife, Susie, make their home in the Champlain Valley of Vermont.
Books by T. M. Moore

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