Approaching the Word of God with Reverence

Speaking of the seriousness with which we should approach the Word of God, Basil of Caesarea said, “How earnestly the soul should prepare itself to receive such high lessons! How pure it should be from carnal affections, how unclouded by worldly disquietudes, how active and ardent in its researches, how eager to find in its surroundings an idea of God which may be worthy of Him” (The Heaemeron, “Homily 1:52”).

This short paragraph deserves concerted attention, so let me ask a few probing questions and encourage you to join me in taking some time and searching our hearts:

Do you prepare yourself to receive the Word of God each day? Each week before Sunday worship? Each week before your Community Group or Bible study?
How can you better prepare yourself? How will this impact what you “get out of church”?
How do other pleasures affect the strength of our pleasure in the Word of God? What specific fleshly and worldly pleasures are impeding your progress in the things of God right now? With God’s help, how will you go about dying to those pleasures and living to the greater pleasures of Christ?
How do worldly concerns and worries keep us from fully benefiting from the Word of God? What does God command us to do with such concerns (see Phil 4:4-8; 1 Peter 5:6-7)? How can obedience at this point increase our ability to benefit from the Word of God?
How actively and passionately do you seek to understand the Word of God? Do you, as Jesus taught us, seek it like it’s treasure? How, by the grace of God, can you grow in your commitment to pursuing the things of God?
How committed are you to finding ideas of God that are worthy of him? Thinking of how you actually live, are you willing to settle for small ideas of God? What does this say about your understanding of God? Your desire for God? How can you grow in your commitment to thinking great and glorious thoughts of God?

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