Terry Johnson: Devour God’s Word — All of It
If we are to thrive spiritually, we must be those who devour God’s Word. Too many Christians are like children, picking at their food, tasting a little bit of this, then a little of that — or worse, toying with it, pushing it around their plates, turning it over with their forks and spoons. Eat it. Eat it whole. Devour God’s Word: both Old Testament and New Testament. Don’t be like those who say the Old Testament is difficult and then ignore it. Eat it all: Old Testament Historical Books, Law, Prophets, Poetical Books, Wisdom Literature; New Testament Gospels, Epistles, Act, and Apocalypse. Eat it all: promise and warning, blessing and curse, reward and punishment, grace and duty, the pleasant and the unpleasant. We need it all, a word diet balanced according to the Bible’s own proportions. Don’t merely skim the surface of Scripture. Don’t consume only Bible dessert, as it were, and refuse Bible vegetables, Bible fruits, and Bible meats. Eat it for the nourishment of the soul. Jesus’ words are ‘spirit and life,’ yet the whole word of the whole Christ is found only in the whole Bible, through which God provides the necessities for health and wholeness. The word of God is spiritual food by which our souls grow in grace and Christ-likeness.
The Excellencies of God: Exploring and Enjoying His Attributes, Terry Johnson, p.251.
