Mirror
| Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it---not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it---they will be blessed in what they do. (James1:22-25) |
My father had a very expressive face. He could say so much with his eves, or eyebrows, his smile lines and wrinkles, and mouth. I loved to watch him contort his face as he shaved.
Later, when he was at work and Mum was busy in the house, I would sit at the mirror and try to copy the expressions that I saw. I never quite mastered the face-pulling routine, but I practiced, and I learned how to do some of what I observed.
When James describes our reading scripture as looking intently into the mirror, this childhood memory comes to mind.
Learning to read
"Most children leave grade one without knowing the alphabet, while 82% of grade 4 children cannot read for meaning." This statement is part of the 2023 READING REPORT which tracks literacy in South Africa. This is indeed alarming!
I wonder though, if we were to survey Bible literacy in our congregations, our denomination, what the outcome would be?
Ask yourself and ask one another:
- Do we read or listen to the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament daily or regularly?
- Can/do we read/listen for meaning?
Or are we maybe just going through the motions? - Is there any evidence that we are changed by what we read/hear?
Perhaps we need to be learning to read again?
Let's begin with the A, B, C
- Ask God to speak to us.
- Be intentional. This means making an "appointment" with God and keeping it.
Having a particular place/space where we are not easily disturbed can help.
A planned reading scheme, beginning with the Gospels, or psalms or a guided reading plan can help to establish our Bible-reading habit. - Change. We may need to read the same passage several times; or to write it out, or to memorise it and discuss it together, to understand better and to remember more.
Whatever we do, searching the scriptures and allowing God to search our hearts through what we read, should change us. Without any evidence of change we are in fact Biblically illiterate.
What to avoid!
A certain man hoped to hear from God.
Not knowing where to begin, he just opened his Bible and the first verse that his eyes rested on said: "And Judas went out and hanged himself."
He closed the Bible, and opened it a second time.
This time he read: "Go Thou, and do likewise!"
Fortunately he didn't!
True Biblical literacy is promoted when we ask:
- What is the CONTENT we have read?
- What is the CONTEXT both in the Bible and in our lives?
- What COMMITMENT is given to or required from us?
- What CHANGE comes from our reading?
Shona van der Lingen ministers at St Columba's, Kokstad in the Presbytery of East Griqualand. Though she has a special affinity for Zimbabwe -- her two daughters were born in Harare - her name is of Scottish origin. Shona likes Zapiro cartoons and is inspired by her garden to be part of the "Growing for Growth" project in the UPCSA.
