I want to apologize about a mistake that I made in a scripture passage several days ago. I said that a master is not greater than his slave, when I should have said that a slave is not greater than his master. Jesus uses this statement to try to get His disciples to understand the fact that because they are below Him, they should act as He should. They should follow Him... like a student follows a teacher. He wants them to humble themselves. He wants us to humble ourselves.
However, in another gospel, the Gospel of Luke, Jesus says that a leader must be like the servant. (Luke 22) The message of Jesus is very clear. He wants us to humble ourselves as leaders and rulers. Not only do we need to humble ourselves, but we need to have respect for the people and the things that we lead. As far as the creation of God goes, we have a duty to humble ourselves and care for it. But more importantly, we need to humble ourselves and care for people in general. By caring for God's creation and caring for people we are loving God. But the most important part of humbling ourselves is to love God.
I read a post on Dan Kimball's Vintage Faith blog. He was talking about how he encourages postmodern people to become theologians. By this, he means exactly what the word means. We need to become enthralled with the study of God. But it is much more than just studying God, it is about knowing who He is and knowing why He loves us.
We live in a world where people are hurting. If we don't know who God is, do we actually have the ability to share Him with the world? When we focus our minds on God, we begin to know who He is. When we learn who God is, we can better share Him with others.
If you have trouble reading the Bible, take it in small pieces. It is not a race... it is a journey. Get a translation that reads well, like the TNIV, the NLT, or even the Message. Whatever you need to do, do it. Reading the words of God is really the best way to learn who He is. Read the notes in your Bible, just read a verse, read a whole chapter, read a whole book, whatever you need to do to be in the Word. We live by the words of God, the words that come to life. It isn't just the words, it's the action and the meaning of those words.
The Bible doesn't do any good if it just sits on a shelf. At that point it is no different than any other book. But when we pick it up and read it, it gives life, and new meaning to the world around us. Tell me about some of the things that you have read and found intersting! Read on.
note from Steve: a couple of you picked up on this "misquote" from the blogger ORANGEFAITH. Rather than personally launching into a response, I thought I'd let you read his response.
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