Growth through Study

Recently a dear friend and brother in Christ asked me for suggestions for a talk he had been asked to give on "Growth through Study." These are the rambling ideas that came to mind and which I shared with my friend. I thought these ideas might also stimulate the thinking of others so I am sharing them for the larger audience. I shall be blessed again if you dear reader should find any of these ideas helpful in your own Christian walk:

1. Take a look at the life of Harry Denman. Harold Rogers wrote a good book about him. He never married and was Mr. Evangelism of the Methodist Church for many years. He was a remarkable witness for Jesus. His style was simple, direct, transparent, and compassionate. He was a friend of mine, a mentor actually, being much older. He took an interest in me. He died at 83 in the Methodist Retirement Home in Birmingham. I went to see him there when he was about 80. I asked him to suggest how I might become a better preacher and witness for Jesus. He told me to pray more, and to write out in long hand the scriptures. He told me he was writing out the New Testament daily even then, and was at the time writing out the New Testament for the sixth time. He said writing it out by hand helps you get the Word into your whole being. I have done some myself but nothing quite like he did. What a tremendous "study habit"! He talked to ordinary people about "my friend Jesus" with the same ease that most of us talk about the weather or football. His witness was contagious and challenging.I admired him and learned from him. When it comes to study, I think it helps us grow to "study" the style and holy habits of Christians we admire.
2. As you prepare your talk, let the Spirit guide you to be transparent about your own life -- especially your weaknesses and mistakes. People can identify with these because we are all so much alike. But go on to share how grace has changed you, and how you have learned to let the Lord use and develop further your strengths. Be unafraid to share your uniqueness, especially the road you traveled that led you one day to embrace the living Christ, and how you came to surrender your whole life to him. Many people are surrendered to Jesus, but only partially and with great reservations. Fullness of joy only comes when we begin to serve Jesus with no reservations, holding nothing back. Surrender is the great key to becoming a child of God with a childlike spirit. Tell about your reservations, fears, and your stumbling, but also how like C. S. Lewis you have been constantly "surprised by joy."
3. When I read Thomas a Kempis' The Imitation of Christ, one of the all-time great classics, I discovered that it was almost impossible to tell when the author was writing his own words or quoting scripture. It dawned on me that Thomas had so absorbed the scriptures, "inwardly digesting them," (a phrase from one the great prayers from The Book of Common Prayer), that the holy scriptures were immersed in his own vocabulary. This book touched me deeply because it revealed how one's life and thoughts can be marvelously influenced by not merely reading but absorbing the Bible. Harry Denman was a 20th Century example of how loving Jesus and absorbing the scriptures can cause a man to become beautifully Christlike.
4. Dr. Tom Carruth taught prayer for many years at Asbury Theological Seminary. He was a dear friend. One day I heard him say that he had read the letters of John more than 3,000 times -- and he learned something new every time he read them! Interestingly, Tom was one of the most loving, Christlike men I ever met.
5. And what did dear brother John Wesley say: "I am a man of one Book - the Bible!" Too many Christians are running from John Grisham's novels to the latest popular Christian book (example: The Shack) and missing the life-changing power that comes from "absorbing" the holy scriptures.
6. The above reminds me of Eugene Peterson and The Message, and how the Book of Psalms are more "prayers to be prayed" than scripture to be read. It was Peterson who put me on to the grand idea of "praying the Psalms."

As you can tell, I have been rambling but praying that some of these ideas might stimulate the juices of your own thinking -- and at least prod you in some helpful direction. I know the Lord will prepare you with a message that will inspire those who will hear you gladly. -- Walter, sjc